A Tail of Ice and Fire
by HappyTheCamper
Summary: This story is designed to combine my two favorite series into one. After enjoying both Fairy Tail and Game of Thrones for their own individual work, I decided to merge both universes and create an alternate world in which the characters of Earth-land determine the ruler of their own Kingdoms. This story of love, greed, power and more will truly be the ultimate tale of Ice and Fire.
1. Preview

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Fairy Tail_. It, its story, characters, settings and all other aspects are the property of A-1 Pictures _,_ Funimation, and Hiro Mashima. I also do not own _A Song of Ice and Fire,_ or _Game of Thrones_. That franchise and its entirety is owned by HBO and George RR Martin. The only aspects of this story I may claim are the theme to the plot, and several original characters.**

* * *

 ** _A Tail of Ice and Fire_**

* * *

Fire and Ice

 _Some say the world will end in fire,_

 _Some say in ice._

 _From what I've tasted of desire_

 _I hold with those who favor fire._

 _But if it had to perish twice,_

 _I think I know enough of hate_

 _To say that for destruction ice_

 _Is also great_

 _And would suffice._

-Robert Frost-


	2. 0 - Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Fairy Tail_. It, its story, characters, settings and all other aspects are the property of A-1 Pictures _,_ Funimation, and Hiro Mashima. I also do not own _A Song of Ice and Fire,_ or _Game of Thrones_. That franchise and its entirety is owned by HBO and George RR Martin. The only aspects of this story I may claim are the theme to the plot, and several original characters.**

* * *

 ** _A Tail of Ice and Fire_**

 **Book One**

* * *

 **Prologue**

 **-Doranbolt-**

"This is getting ridiculous. We need to turn back immediately."

A sailor remained motionless as he looked out across the frozen sea, which shifted and swayed all about their ship. Wisps of frozen air and water fell now and again as the wind rolled over the surface of the bay. The thick fog laid low over all the water, which gave the sailors no clear sight of land or sky.

His captain, and leader of the voyage, Lahar, ignored his plea and continued their course for true north. "Relax, Dorenbolt. The ice is thin here, and it shouldn't give us any more troubles once we make it out to clearer waters."

Lahar assumed they were next to a shore. The conglomeration of ice that strategically formed off and away from their starboard side seemed almost perfect for a sign of land, but his orders were clear, continue sailing north through the Straights of Ice.

Dorenbolt pried his frozen hands off the rails and turned towards his captain. "Are you _that_ mad? We'll die out here if we don't reach land. The winds are going to start picking up, and this ice is…"

"Going to be on the shore, just like the sea." Lahar made no attempt to ignore his first mate, and tried reasoning with him. "I imagine all that thick ice means we're well far away from the nearest shoreline. The ocean will be no different from the shelves of ice, so for now we'll continue to sail north until we find any reason to turn around."

Dorenbolt sighed, and watched his breath take the air in front of his face. His nerves began to chill, and a new sea breeze came through and gave all the men on board a new understanding of sheer cold.

"S-sir…" One man yelled out as he tried tying down a line. "Can we at least g-get ins-side and sit by a fire for a bit?"

Lahar never changed his expression, and turned away to look beyond the bow of the ship. He began wondering when they would find what they were looking for. He decided it might be time to head inside for a quick break and meal. "Alright. Finish tying down your lines, and head below deck for an hour's rest."

The men rejoiced as they all rounded off their chores and headed below deck for a quick bight to eat and a moment's rest, but Doranbolt continued watching the sea dance about in rhythm with the nearing winds.

"Right. Well, north doesn't look so good now, does it?" He chortled under his breath and tried to lose the attention of Lahar, but the sea captain made no wish to respond either way. Eventually, they would both return to their own quarters and return an hour later after sailing further into the mist and ice of the northern world.

A while later, the sky never grew brighter, but the cabins stayed rather silent through the low-lit day as the ship continued to sail under the command of the pilot. Lahar relinquished the wheel and took to his quarters almost an hour back, and Doranbolt was sound asleep across the hall of the stern castle. He never expected to gather his sleep, but the sailor appeared to be more tired than he expected. He had barely gotten rest since they left the Jeweled Kingdoms of Ishgar, and over the past few weeks he quickly regretted ever volunteering for the voyage north.

However, every perception that was previously made on the journey would quickly change as the new sailing crew came across a bizarre sight. None of them could tell what was happening, but they never even bothered to figure it out on their own without yelling for help.

"Captain Lahar! Come quick!"

Doranbolt heard the noise first, but his hearty captain was only short to follow as they both ripped open their doors and strode outside to the lower decks. Doranbolt froze right from the bizarre sight, and Lahar ran up to the captain's perch to gain a better view.

"What in the…the sea is freezing so fast?"

The waters beyond their ship and lying towards the north were freezing at a rapid pace, not one that would be seen by the human eye. Winds of black snowflakes and blue ice whirled over its surface as the wall of frost proceeded to travel in every direction, and a large, dominating cloud quickly made its way right for their vessel.

"Captain, hold on to something!" Doranbolt saw no way for them to sail around it, because their watery routes were all freezing around them. In any other case, they would sit in wait, but the first mate quickly yelled for everyone on board to brace for impact.

However, Doranbolt also noticed the fabric in their sails was also starting to freeze, and before he could think, the black-haired man ran up the steps, grabbed his captain by the arm, and brought both he and Lahar into their previous quarters.

"We can't be out there! It's going to freeze the…!"

Too late.

A blast of frigid air sucked out the previous atmosphere aboard the wooden deck. The men who were outside exposed to the rush of frost quickly cried out, only to be silenced by a crackling whisper of ice. The men below the deck were also yelling out with pain, only their agony appeared more audible due to their remote locations underneath the floorboard.

Doranbolt and Lahar laid on the ground in the hallway between their rooms, and both held their overcoats tight around their bodies, with their heads covered up from the cool air.

Finally, the entire crew felt a large bump take the underbelly of the ship, and they could all feel the boat rise out of the water just a few feet, and quickly freeze into place as the icy ring below the ship held it captive with the now solid waters. They were stuck in the middle of an arctic field, and right when the frozen storm dissipated, all the survivors quickly made their way outside.

"What…what was that?" One man asked as soon as he looked around. Endless directions of white ice as far as the eye could see ran off in every direction from their ship.

Lahar's voice was just as frozen as the sea. "I…I don't know. That was unlike anything I've ever seen."

"I know…" Doranbolt agreed, though he truly took that thought into consideration. Nothing about that storm seemed natural, and just as ice does not freeze that fast, it also holds no shine similar to black diamonds slicing through midair.

And so, he shook his head. "I…I reckon that's why we were sent to chart the north…I have a feeling the Kingdoms knew about this."

Lahar took it as blasphemy and waved it away. "Utter nonsense. They would have at least told us of the specifics. They have no reason to send their own men to their deaths."

"Right, and they have no reason to miss us if we die. We're no nobles, just military men." Doranbolt tightened up his belt and walked towards the rail to locate the ladder.

"Where are you going?!" Lahar reached out to grab him by the collar, but Doranbolt moved out of his reach and spun around to slide down the ladder.

"I'm going to see what caused this storm. I know that wasn't natural, and I know it has to be around here." Doranbolt was only working on a hunch, but this hunch was even more solidified than the ocean below his feet. He never felt ice this hard, or air this cold. He also never saw a cold front advance like that with great speed and an obnoxious black color. Tales always spoke of old, ancient magics that still shaped the northern world, but Doranbolt believed this recent phenomenon could have been something out of the natural world's grasp. Even the scrolls of Magnolia, and Kardia held no record of weather this barbaric.

He continued to wonder through the foggy air, and as he heard the crew yelling out behind him, he could only imagine they were making their way towards him. He could barely see the flicker of their torchlights, but he also tried ignoring them to earn a better view of the front.

Finally, he saw a rising height sticking out over the ice in a northeastern direction. It turns out they were quite close to the shore after all, and a slight view of a lumpy, rocky hill gave the secret away. Sure, it could have just been a regular glacier, but Doranbolt could tell by the conglomeration of the morphology that this had to be real land.

He carried on, only trying to stay out of sight from his followers. He knew Lahar would order he and all the others to wait aboard the ship while he made the search, but Doranbolt was not about to let his captain die by any means. He knew he was a better sailor, and man to carry out the final journey home, and if either of them was going to fall to the elements, he prayed it would be him.

Doranbolt sank his foot past a snowy surface to uncover rock and sand below. He had now reached the natural shore, and while he used up time observing his surroundings, Lahar and the others had finally caught up.

"There you are! Doranbolt I order you to…!" Lahar tried to affirm his command, but he too saw what they had discovered. "Well, I see you found the shore after all. I suppose you wish to camp here?"

Doranbolt did not nod or shake his head. He simply replied. "I want to know what caused that storm. Nothing does that in nature. That thing had to be some form of magic."

"Dornabolt, relax." Lahar turned to wave towards his men, because he had to run ahead to reach his first mate. They were slowly following in his footsteps, but the entire group was still sliding around on the surface of the dusty ice.

Doranbolt wanted to do anything but relax. He began marching ahead, trudging through thick blankets of snow that appeared to be slightly softer than the ice of the sea. He tried gaining a better view down coast, but just then Lahar yelled over the small ridge.

"Our voyage is to sail past the mainland Waste, and carry on towards the farthest reaches north. This land, if it's large enough, isn't our only concern."

"What is it then?" Dornabolt yelled back as he kicked a large chunk of snow. "It's in the north, and we're here to explore the north."

"Doranbolt. I'm exploring the north. You're looking around for magic and make believe answers."

"If that's so, then I'm probably doing the kingdoms a better service."

"The Kingdoms will not thank a mad-man sailor for spouting on about forces he doesn't understand. We're no experts on the weather, but for now we need to wait the frost out back on the ship, and carry on heading north for the rest of our journey."

"Wait it out? You expect me to just sit there in that frozen boat and wait out a storm like that again?"

"No…but the Kingdoms do, and so does their King."

Silence filled the air, and Doranbolt looked down at the ground with angry eyes, wishing that for this one moment Lahar would hear him out.

However, instead they were both greeted by a clapping sound over the hill, and as both men gathered their attention to the noise, an odd figure stepped out of the frost.

"How rebellious. To disobey your Majesty's word is to run contrary to the very name of the Kingdoms."

He was a bespectacled man of average height. Most of his head was covered by long, light hair which was bunched into a ponytail by a golden brace. The rest of his hair was quite messy, with uneven bangs falling down the sides of his face and between his eyes.

The man also harnessed alert eyes with red irises, and his attire looked quite trim, befitting a seemingly strict personality. Lahar and Doranbolt were equally surprised to see another man there, especially one so comfortable such as this. He looked right at home in the icy tundra of the north, but it also appeared that he may not be alone.

"Well, I take it you sailed from Ishgar, right? That's a shame. I quite liked your ship…"

"AGHH!"

Lahar and Doranbolt heard screams of pain and fear, and just then the former raced down the slopes of the icy hill and looked out towards the sea. What he saw was indescribable.

The ice had melted, or even more accurately, it had disappeared. The once thick sheet of land made of water was now gone, the boat sailed free on open water, and the crew, now equipped with heavy armor and outfits, drowned and sunk to the bottom of the sea.

"NO!" Lahar yelled out, trying to collect what had just happened.

Doranbolt was also looking on, with his mouth agape and his eyes widened with fear. He knew storms could not form so quickly, but to see one reverse in a matter of minutes was unheard of. Thus, he turned toward the mysterious man, who without ruining his own smug expression, drew a hardy blade made of solid ice and spun it in his hands.

"I also feel sorry for drowning your men, but I will let you both join them soon enough."

* * *

 **Author's note: This story was designed to combine my two favorite series into one. After enjoying both _Fairy Tail_ and _Game of Thrones_ for their own individual work, I decided to merge both universes and create an alternate world in which the characters of Earth-Land determine the ruler of their own Seven Kingdoms. This story of love, greed, power and more will truly be the ultimate tale of Ice and Fire.**

 **This is also just the prologue. Please follow up for Chapter 1**


	3. 1 - The Jeweled Kingdoms

**Author's note: I do not own _Fairy Tail, A Song of Ice and Fire,_ or _Game of Thrones_.**

* * *

 **I**

 **The Jeweled Kingdoms**

* * *

 **-Gray-**

The day had almost turned to night in the blink of an eye. The sun was setting over mountains in the west, and a small line of clouds filled the bright red sky over the shaded valley below. Men from up in the Frost Point mountains were returning home after a long day of harvesting spruce wood for villagers and townsfolk, and all of them were ready for their day's work to come to an end.

This included Gray. He spent far too much time up in those hills today, and needed to return home as soon as possible. His feet were aching, and despite his usual experience, the tips of his fingers and nose were starting to freeze up. Gray never came with the workers this late in the summer, but he felt he owed his hand to the men gathering wood for the coming fall that would be on them later in the year. Gray was high born, but liked doing his part for the Land of Isvan. He never looked down on anyone around him, and never used his family name to acquire anything flashy or flamboyant.

He did however wear thick, expensive cloaks and gloves when working with the other men. Gray was not about to sacrifice his health for a few logs, and now that northern winds were sweeping into his home valley, he had to be prepared. Despite being late in the summer, things were a lot colder this time of year here in Isvan. This was Ishgar's northernmost providence after all, and being so close to the northern wastes, harsher climates plagued this territory nearly all-year round.

The march was ending, and the men from the mountain were all right outside the castle walls. The village of Mikage passed them by over the last few minutes, and now Gray and the others were walking under the cold, stone walls of Iceberg. This was his father's house, and seat of all in the north. A banner flew over his head as the lordly son stepped through the barbican. It was a field of white, and adorned in its center was a cerulean gem, almost shaped like a hexagonal cube of ice.

Gray never paid any attention to that banner whenever he passed through the gates. He knew what it looked like. Gray continued moving with a sled of fresh spruce logs following behind his horse. Normal work horses from the south could not carry a sled of thick wooden logs, but these were northern horses—frost fangs. They could carry anything. Gray dismounted his ride, and tied his grey steed to the stable door, and began removing logs from the sledge in tow. One by one he and the other workers filled a pile as tall as a one-story home in the side of the courtyard, and as the bounty filled its place, the workers cleared out and congratulated each other on a job well done.

"Nice work today, Ice Boy! Ol' Silver would be proud to see what you can do up there in the mountains."

"Thanks." Gray smiled as he turned away from another worker. "Anything to get me out from under his nose is good work in my eyes."

"Is that so?" Replied a sharp voice from the balcony. "In that case I'll be sure to tag along next time you venture out there."

Gray turned to see his new guest, but did not have to think long once Lyon took his view. Lyon was a friend from childhood, and always gave him a hard time for helping the common folk. He was nice, but a little more use to royal rule than Gray was.

"Lyon, you could actually use a day out in the real cold." Gray gave him a smirk as he marched up the wooden steps to join his comrade. "I'd be surprised if you've ever felt the chilly weather up in those mountains."

"Nonsense!" Lyon put an arm around Gray. "While you go out every day playing with trees, I stay here and train my sword hand for rule. My future people will need a strong lord ruling over their lands…"

"Yea?" Gray stopped him there. "Well keep living in your little future, and just let me live mine, okay?"

Lyon opened the door for Gray, but kept his smirk alive. "If my future bothers you so much, then I can always take you out of it. My wedding is in one month, and I'll be needing a best man for the festivities. I can always ask some other fool from this side of Isvan to do it for me."

Gray rolled his eyes, and continued walking with Lyon's arm over his shoulders. He was set to marry Gray's younger sister, and regularly enjoyed reminding him of it whenever he had the chance. Despite the close bond between them, Lyon would be moving back to the southern border of Isvan by the end of the wedding, because his seat at Margaret Town sat just off the coast of the White Sea. Lyon preferred its more temperate climate over Iceburg's anyway, and rejoiced at the thought of living there while permanently married.

Gray did not mind the idea of sitting down and planning more of the wedding with him, but as he and Lyon approached the great hall, they could hear a heavy conversation taking place.

"Oh, I almost forgot. "Lyon removed his arm from Gray's shoulders once they stopped outside the door, and crossed his arms with concern. "Survivors from some northern voyage stopped off here last night. You were still out at camp on the Frost Points."

"Northern voyage?" Gray could hardly think of anything more northern than his home country of Isvan. The Wastes, maybe? They were just a field of barren land, and hardly worth venturing out for anything. The ancient seat of Pergrande? Nothing but worthwoods as far as the eye could see. He had to know more. "How many were here?"

"Only two. They had a captain, but he left for the south. That Dreyar lord from the Tenrou Islands was his liege, so your father sent him out on the first ship down there. They had some mission in the Frostlands, but I missed the rest. Silver asked me to fetch you once your party returned."

"Well gee, sorry." Gray took that as a jab, and went to grab the handle of the door, but just then it swung open on its own, revealing a medium height woman with short black hair and soft white skin.

"Gray! I thought that was you." Lady Ur wrapped her arms around her freezing step-son, and gave him a warm hug once the door stayed propped open. She was a northerner too, a lordly daughter from the middle of Isvan. She was also very close to House Fullbuster, and married their liege lord Silver after his first wife died in labor.

"Hey, did I miss anything?" Gray liked Ur, and treated her like his natural mother. He knew enough from Lyon to start asking questions, and decided now was his best opportunity to join the conversation.

"Ur, don't tell him a word," A booming voice rang over from the great hall's hearth, and in front of it stood a man with great height and strength, grinning at the flames. "Gray should figure it out on his own."

Gray rolled his eyes as Ur stepped out of the way, and the son finally entered the room, with Lyon right behind him greeting his future mother-in-law. The black-haired son of Lord Fullbuster marched forward and placed his gloves on the hard, mahogany table. Gray spoke loudly to greet his father. "So what happened with the northern voyagers?"

Silver kept his grin hardy and solid. He was in his late thirties, but slight streaks of white lined his once thick mane of short black hair. The lord father was a tall, well-built man. He had a sharp face, marked facial features, and slight wrinkles below his eyes signifying his dwindling youth. Silver also carried a long scar extending from his hairline to his lower left ear, which appeared to have been left by a former enemy's attack.

He finally turned, and stepped up to embrace his son. "Nothing our people need to be concerned with. They were serving House Dreyar, so I sent the captain to Grey Harbor for the first ship out of here. His two lackeys wanted to stay behind though. So, I gave them a room downstairs."

Ur rolled her eyes, and placed a hand on Gray's back from behind. "But, they're asleep, and in dire need of it too. Let them rest, and try not to bother them."

Gray's face changed from intrigued to dissatisfied. He had never been to Grey Harbor. It was the only town in the north he had never visited. He took a seat at the head of the table, with Lyon taking one to his right. "Okay, so if you send them off for a nap, why did you summon me straight here?"

Now, it was Silver's expression that took a change. From the look gathered by Gray, his lord father appeared to be withholding some serious information. At the same time, Ur turned and shut the door to the hall, which left the four of them alone in the chamber. Silver had returned to his place over by the hearth, and rested his right hand on the mantel shelf above the fire. His left stayed firmly at his belt, on top of his house sword— _Absolute Zero_. It was white steel, and apparently as old as the Fullbuster family name. He had no way of lightly releasing whatever weighed down his mind, so he chose to empty it all out at once.

"King Toma is dead."

Silence filled the great stone hall, and both Gray and Lyon sunk in their seats, shock slowly taking over their faces. Gray spoke first. "Wow. When did you…?"

"This morning." Silver cut him off. "The message came from Crocus, not Era. He was away from the capital spending some time with his daughter in Fiore, and that's where it happened."

"How by?" Lyon asked quickly.

"Natural causes, or that's what the letter said." Silver shrugged. "He was pushing 80. Damn shame…one of the only southern bastards I actually enjoyed."

Gray hated the thought of rushing the conversation, but he had no memory of meeting King Toma to morn over. "So what does this mean? Who takes the throne now?"

Silver turned his head slightly to look at Ur, and she back at him. Both paused before the lord carried on. "The capital won't let a lone girl take the throne. That daughter of his isn't even old enough, anyway. Not to mention…"

Silence filled the room yet again, but now the tension had built up too much for it to hold. "Mention what?" Gray demanded.

Silver sighed. "Nothing…I called you here because I'm leaving for Crocus. I'm paying my respects to the King's passing, and I want you running this place until I get back."

 **-Cana-**

A small rabbit was darting through the forest, again. It was the sixth one that evening. Cana kept her eyes sharp and her hands steady as she held her bow tightly. A thin brown arrow tipped with silver stuck out from her bow string, and as the small rodent stopped to catch a cold breath of air, she took her own, and released her shot.

"Gotchya." Her smirk was met with a shot right through the rabbit's heart, and soon the little creature fell to the ground. The beautiful brown-haired hunter stepped up from her perch behind the brush, and went to collect her bounty. While doing so, she made sure to remove a small leather flask from under her cloak, and took a large swig of whatever she had hidden away inside.

Cana was the daughter of a high lord sworn to defend House Fullbuster. Her family had lived in Iceberg with the Wardens of the North since the early days of men. She enjoyed the quiet life of Isvan, but always made it a priority to find the village's rowdiest tavern every single week. She was the heaviest drinker in the north, and used her skills to distract herself from the harsh realities of living in a land frozen with snow. Not to mention she was an only child of a nobleman, and the fact that she was a woman kept her from ever truly inheriting her father's name after marriage. She did not like the idea of marrying anyone in the first place, though if she had to, a northern boy would never be that bad in her mind.

Cana let these thoughts distract her every time she rode back home from the forest. It seemed like that was the best way to speed up the time. Hunting in the forest by day, and drinking in the taverns by night, that was the life of a high-born beauty. She tried spending time with some of the others in the castle, but she preferred the company of Gray and Lyon over that of his step sisters. Either way, her venture was now coming to an end as she could see torchlit flames piercing through the gates of Iceberg.

"What the hell…?" Cana sped up her ride, and passed under the gate to find a large force of men preparing to leave the castle. They all held banners for House Fullbuster, and some even had arms for House Clive, her own family sigil. It was an orange shield on a field of grey. "Defending Ice" were the words, fitting for any house subject to serve a high lord. House Fullbuster's words were "As Hard as Ice." She liked those words better than her family's.

Cana pierced her gaze around the courtyard until her eyes landed on a brutish man atop an all-black steed. He had slicked back orange hair, and stubby facial hair to match. Cana never wasted any time getting his full attention. She rode her frost fang horse with a quick gallop, and met him directly. "Hey, what the hell is going on?"

The man smiled and turned his horse toward hers. "Cana, sweetie! Glad you're here to see me off."

"What are you talking about?" Cana asked Gildarts, her noble father. "Where are you going?"

Gildarts let the cheer run out of his voice and returned to his normal, serious expression. "Eh, sorry. I better tell you the news first…Old King Toma was declared dead this morning."

"What?!" Cana almost fell from her brown racing mare. "How did he die? And why are you raising an army?!"

"Escort, dear." Gildarts grinned. "And the man was old. He couldn't have made it another 5 years under that crown. I bet that throne of his was really getting to him too." He shook his head, and looked out the gate. "Still, Silver wants all these boys to follow us around the bend. We're sailing for Crocus first thing tomorrow."

"…" Cana stopped talking, and hesitated in turning her horse for the stables before her father reached over and grabbed the reins out from her hand. "Hey, hold on. You're staying here to keep Gray and Lyon out of trouble. That idiot Silver's leaving Gray in charge, so I figured you'd stay back here with him."

Cana rolled her eyes, because she knew why her dad had spelled it out that way. Gildarts and Silver were very close, so in his mind their children should be close too. The problem was she and Gray had known each other since they were very little, and she almost viewed herself as his twin sister. Either way, she gave her father one last word. "I'm not stopping ya, old man. Enjoy the capital."

Gildarts chuckled under his breath, and released his daugher's horse for the stables. "Get a drink tonight, honey. You look like shit."

Cana reluctantly smiled at that, and let him ride for the gate as she dismounted her horse. While tying the beast to the stable, the castle doors swung open, revealing Lord Silver Fullbuster and his son, Gray. Lyon stayed inside with Ur and the other girls, but Gray came out to see his father off in the courtyard too. Silver came out almost in his original black shirt with brown leather pants. His riding boots matched his trousers, but there was more to the knight's outfit this time around as compared to earlier. Over his shirt, the lord father donned a grey, segmented metal chest plate, bearing the sigil of his house on the left pectoral. Secured to it by two round, golden clasps was a long, brownish white cape hanging over the man's shoulders. Silver's armor was finally completed by two blue, rounded pauldrons, possessing metal-colored edges and squared protrusions on the upper and lower edges, each adorned by his white house sigil, and finished by brown riding gloved plated with steel.

"Okay, don't do anything stupid in Crocus." Cana could hear Gray warning his father. "Everyone knows you hate the south, but it's not like it's the capital or anything."

"Thank the sun and moon." Silver laughed. "When I told those bastards I'd never set foot in Era again, I meant it. If I'm lucky I'll avoid seeing the others, though it will be hard if I stop off in Saber along the way."

Cana watched Gray roll his eyes, and then he reached out to grab Silver's wrist in a firm handshake. They finished, and Silver mounted his white stallion to leave for the night, but now she was too distracted on Gray making his way over. When he finally saw her, a small smirking expression took her face.

"Come on." She laughed out loud. "I gotta story to tell ya, but only if you're buying, tonight."

 **-Lucy-**

The letter felt heavy in her hand. It was only brown parchment paper, but the words weighed over one thousand pounds in her mind.

" _ **King Toma, of the House Fiore, the Jeweled Kingdoms, and Ruler of Ishgar has passed away on this day, July 2, X784."**_

There was more, but Lucy had already read the whole note over a dozen times. The ruler of the continent, and King of its nine Kingdoms, had just passed away. He had ascended to the throne only 7 years ago, but his rule felt like it would last her entire life. He diffused tension between the north and south, and kept all the lords from tearing the continent apart.

The continent of Ishgar was broken up into nine governing regions. To the world, these were known as the "Jeweled Kingdoms," and each had a ruling lord who served as Lord Protector of their realm. They were not independently governing states, and all answered to the authority of the crown. The central capital sat in the Bay of Fairies, and it was known as _Era_.

Era, however, was a long way from Lucy's home town of Hearthome. This was the city she had known all her life, and housed the castle she lived in to this day. Castle Hearthome was the seat of her lord father's power, and all through her life, Lucy had been bred to live in its shadow. Lucy was from a family of generous nobility, and that would be putting it lightly, but now she was reading the death letter of a close family friend, and everything seemed to be inflating rapidly in her mind. She was currently floating in the Bay of Fairies, a response to the recent royal letter received by her father. She had rarely ever left her hometown, and this entire voyage marked a new beginning for her.

"I see you took father's letter," A boy's voice came from the door of the lord's office. Lucy had trapped herself inside the stern castle of the ship to view her father's letter from Crocus, and now set the letter down rapidly as if startled by some sort of ghost. The boy carried on. "Relax, I wasn't trying to scare you."

"Sorry, Loke…he doesn't know I have it." Lucy turned with a now lowly expression as her older twin brother, and heir to Hearthome greeted her at the door. The elder sibling Loke was a young man of average height, distinguished by his delicate facial features and his burnt orange hair, unlike Lucy who wore bright golden locks of blonde like her parents. Both children were very handsome, but Lucy kept her face frozen with a sorry attitude after breaking into the office, and reading about the tragedy on her own time.

Loke rolled his eyes, and continued walking forward with hands deep inside his pockets. As he walked up to the large bay window overlooking the fading blue waters, the sun beamed through to light his burgundy silk tunic like a newly lit flame. His bespectacled face pierced through to look at the evening scenery, and his hazel eyes followed every wave that they could catch. He turned to give his beautiful young sister his full attention soon after. "Are you still upset about the trip to Era? Father expects that we'll be able to meet the royal family there after they're done morning in Crocus."

Lucy turned away and gave her brother a cold shoulder. "Why not make the extra effort and visit them in Crocus? Is he that selfish to not attend the funeral? And why is he not riding with us?"

Loke grinned, and gave her a shrug. "You know the man well, almost better than I do. He's not the one to grovel at someone else's power, even if that person just died…" Loke pressed forward and put his hands on Lucy's shoulders from behind. "And besides…you never like it when he's around anyway, do you?"

Lucy tensed up, and kept her face low. She and Loke were close, but she really had not been in the mood to receive him since they left from the Heartlands. Their lord father was obviously sending them to court to seek out marital alliances, but the trip alone with each other meant different _things_ in Loke's mind. He was always after the fairest girl in the land to sit at his side and rule Hearthome, and until he'd find that girl, his younger sister seemed to be the closest thing to it. This never bothered her, but she knew his relationship with father was healthy, and, she almost felt in the mood to protest the elder Heartfilias both. In the meantime, Lucy sat down at the desk, while Loke took a lock of her golden blonde hair, and began playing with it using both of his hands.

"Relax, father wants me to grieve with the saddened daughter, Hisui. A woman can't take the throne on her own by law, and he knows lords all over will flock to be the future king. Who knows? This may just be my lucky break." He released her hair, and placed his hands back down on her shoulders. Lucy's scarlet red gown had sleeves, but it felt like his palms were pressing right against her skin.

He lowered his head parallel to her right ear. "I'm just looking for company on the way over…and if you play your part well, I may help you find a lord of your own in Era while we're there."

Yes. That is what she wanted, after all. Lucy longed for her overly close brother to find her a lord for a husband. That way, she could go off and sit in that man's castle all day doing the exact same thing she does at home. What a romantic and exciting ending to her life. She did not hate Loke in the moment, but she almost heard her father's voice coming from her older brother's words. She went to say more, but stood to prove a point. Lucy turned for the door, but met Loke's shoulder on her way out. He stopped her for a moment, and leaned into give her a quick peck on the cheek. The blonde debutante received the gesture, and carried on through the ship's threshold, and located her own quarters as fast as she could. Her hand immediately went up to wipe away the remark left by Loke, but the red on her flushed face still remained.

Once inside her lavished bedroom for the voyage, Lucy locked the door behind her. She hated leaving Loke on such a sour note, but he was the one at fault this time around.

"Can he just leave me alone from father's words for one minute?" Lucy sunk down on the bed, and buried her face in the white cotton pillows organized neatly over the sheets. The ruby silk quilt felt wonderful on her resting frame, and almost gave her enough comfort to take a long nap. However, the heavy rocking of the evening current kept her hesitant of resting anytime soon. To pass time instead, Lucy sat up, and grabbed one of her many books sitting on the bedside stand. Lucy was a public student of history, and found her nose buried in these books more so than ever.

After lifting the pile with one hand, she removed her other out from under the pillow to grab a red suede encyclopedia of sorts on the fabled histories of Ishgar. Lucy sat up like a toddler, and lit up with a smile once the pages came open before her eyes. The current section was a recent installment, and only happened seven years prior. It involved a fabled rebellion set out to overthrow a seemingly mad king, a king of which was only a few years older than her. He was the former ruler of Ishgar, and King of the Jeweled Kingdoms. His royal line had been traced down over a thousand years, and his ancestors were said to be some of the first continental inhabitants.

"Awe, I remember these days. I was only ten at the time." She remembered how this history came about during her own childhood lifetime, and tried focusing on more of the words from there. The king was very handsome, and many accounts recalled that he was kind and gentle to his servants. He had a younger brother, and both ruled alone without any parents lording over them. That was always Lucy's favorite part. Despite growing up with them as her rulers, she never met the boy king, or his younger brother. Her father kept her hidden away back in Hearthome in those days. He knew something was bound to happen to the two young rulers, and much to her dismay, he way right.

It was July of the year X777. The High King was set to marry a beautiful young girl from the Tenrou Islands, which honored an ancient alliance between the two noble families. The girl was said to be even nicer than the king, but at that time, something terrible happened that ultimately led to her death at court. The Kingdoms revolted, and blamed their young ruler for the death of the beloved young girl. There were rumors that the king had always practiced black magic, but nothing was ever proven by trial because the two brothers vanished from the face of the earth. From there, the late King Toma took the throne, and ruled for a long fought seven years before dying this morning.

Normally this part of the story left people in tears, or angry at the former actions of their past ruler, but Lucy always found herself grinning, and flipping back to a world map while letting her eyes trace about the globe. "I always like re-reading these parts…I wonder what it'd be like if the Dragneel brothers never vanished. Or for that matter…I wonder if they're still in hiding."

 **-Natsu-**

"Agh, come on! I still have a whole batch here!"

Natsu ran up and down the piers searching for any customer that would look his way. Normally he would have sold his entire inventory by now, but these days no one seemed to want the product. Natsu had earned quite the skill by acquiring goods from Ishgar, and flipping them for profit once they would land in the West. Here in Eisen, everyone always fought over his expensive gem stones and precious metals that he found onboard the ships. However, ever since he started a few years back, the profit has only gone down.

"Man…ergh, maybe I shouldn't stay at the docks, today." Natsu had kept his business plan quite clear by limiting his sales only to the open piers. He always had to go into town whenever he returned home, but bringing his entire cart down those narrow streets was financial suicide. Eisen's sergeants were not very defensive of petty theft cases, and rarely did they ever feel the need to lend a hand. Natsu was very limited with his fighting skills, and the tiny red dagger strapped to his side was the only thing protecting his merchandise. Still, he knew the material better than anyone, and if he only stepped foot in the streets for thirty minutes, it would all be sold in time for dinner.

Once the sun hit a certain low point in the Alakitasian sky, Natsu wheeled his traveling cart off the wooden docks, through the throngs of pedestrians eager for different products, and down the vast Eisani streets to set up his new shop. This was not the first time Natsu had to wheel through coarse urban sidewalks. It had been roughly seven years now, seven years since he and his brother fled their home land. Nastu barely remembered it, but he did remember the fancy boat they traveled by on their way to Alakitasia. They came on a cargo ship, and his older brother taught him all about the goods that come from the Jeweled Kingdoms. Once they got here, however, the boys did not stay together for long. Natsu's older brother left one night to find food for the two of them, but after a long night of being alone, Natsu woke up to find his brother missing. Ever since, the pink haired boy had spent his last seven years earning his own living on the docks of Eisen, keeping his brother's wisdom in his mind to help sell his product.

"Ooh man, just think! I can get 50,000 Aloks to enter the pits, and still make enough for dinner!" Natsu should have been raising money for food and a decent living space, but his actual target was for entry fees into the local fighting pits. Eisen's Stadium of Daybreak was home to some of the greatest man fights on this side of the world, and anyone who wished to enter had to carry a large wallet on their person at all times. Still, Nastu carried a small amount of sword skills from his days back in Ishgar, or mainly from the ride over with his older brother. He could still see fuzzy memories of the liege lords training him in fancy rooms, with solid steel swords cast in castle forges. Natsu always had to rent a weapon for fights, because he found himself too nervous taking his ruby dagger into the fights. The thing was supposed to be a family heirloom, but to him it was just a good way to defend himself walking down the street. Either way, with tomorrow's fights starting at sunrise, he only had half a day left to get the remaining 5,000 Aloks. Natsu tried his hardest, and even tracked down the most bizarre faces in the plaza just to sell his gems and artifacts of the day, but after wasting too much time on a broken piece of topaz, he finally passed his threshold of 75,000a.

"FINALLY!" He shouted as the money he counted passed over his rough but sturdy hands. 50,000 for the circuit of pits, and 25,000 for the road. "For a second there I thought I'd have to miss out on tomorrow's fight. This is the first-time easterners have entered all year!"

He was excited to see noble armor once again, and started wheeling his product back down his usual route on the way home. It was time to close shop early, and retire for a healthy dinner, but just as Natsu rounded the corner with his tan merchant cart, a foot stopped one of the wheels.

"Excuse me, sir!" A nearly bald man with a thin black ponytail stretching the back of his head stopped Natsu in the street with a forgiving smile. "I'm terribly sorry, but you're not on your way home, are you?"

"Wha-?" Natsu jerked the cart with both hands, and then raised an eyebrow. "I dunno…who's askin'?"

The young man laughed, and stepped back. "Oh, apologies. I'm in need of a wedding gem for my fiancé. The rings they sell in town are far more expensive if they have gemstones already in them, so I figured I'd just by my stone separately."

"…" Nastu kept his eyebrow raised, and a hand on the dagger hanging behind his lower back under his belt. He wondered why this man weaved through alleyway traffic just to find a jewel merchant, but carried on nonetheless. "Okay, what does she like?"

"Oh, well her birthday is in February…" The man calmed down for a moment and watched as Natsu opened half his cart to show off a product. He tried describing a certain type of stone, but as he did, his eyes left the cart and traveled beyond Natsu's shoulder to find a very tall, and overly muscular man with a unique hairstyle slowly walking toward the cart.

Natsu followed the shopper's words, but began tilting his head with confusion. "Uh buddy, do I have a bug on me or something?"

The shopping man grinned, and kept his eyes down at Natsu's product. "No, nothing at all…I just think you have a second customer."

"What in the hell are you…?" Nastu turned, and just as his eyes met up with a very tall man's torso, his eyes followed up to find a spikey head of bizarre black hair, and then felt a stinging pain as a metal ringing noise crossed his forehead and sent him crashing into his cart. Natsu shook himself off a moment, and then stood back on both feet. "HEY PAL! WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA!?"

"Sorry, chump, but I'm hands free!" The tall, muscular man waved two empty hands, but continued grinning as Natsu finally turned back around, only to be greeted by the original shopper holding a small but sturdy cast iron frying pan.

"Well, I can't remember the gem stone she wanted…" He slung the pan forward, and nailed Natsu upside the head, sending the poor pink-haired boy crashing to the ground. "But I'll just take whatever you have left!"

The tall man grabbed the bag that fell from Nastu's shoulder, and gave him a quick kick in the side for good measure. He tossed the bag up high, and took the cart with his two muscular hands. The smaller man with a frying pan grabbed the flying bag, and hopped on the cart as they both road off back down the other way.

"Urgh…bast…ards." Natsu twitched as he tried collecting his mind, but the pain was so strong he almost threw up from discomfort. The young boy finally raised himself to two feet, and went off running down the alley after the two thieves. As Natsu regained most of his vision, his speed picked up, and while dodging late evening traffic, he could final see the two robbers rolling down an empty lane.

"THERE THEY ARE!" He sprinted with all his energy, and just as they made the turn down a dead end, Natsu drew his tiny red dagger. "ALRIGHT WISE GUYS! Hand over my cart and my entry money pronto!"

"Sheesh, hey bro! Check out the little guy trying to block our path." The taller man with control of the cart released the handles, and took out a pair of daggers on his own belt, while the smaller man spun the frying pan around in his hand.

"So sorry." The near bald man laughed. "But I guess we'll take your life along with your merchandise."

They both charged forward, but even as Natsu leaned in with his own forward aggression, they dodged his attack, and widened their eyes with alert expressions. Standing in the now open entrance to the tiny alley way was a shadowy figure, but as it walked forward, a shining man with silvery armor stepped into the backstreet, and drew a flashy longsword from his belt. He looked a little taller than Natsu, but was entirely cloaked in solid steel armor, trimmed with gold. From head to toe the knight was dressed, and as he stepped forward, both crooked brother cowered for their lives.

"Agh, wait a minute!" The small one tossed the pan behind him, and ditched the scene, but met the fist of the brute knight right upside his head. As the tall one passed by, the knight's blade met the back of his leg, crippling him bloody right in his escape.

Natsu stood back with a face of total confusion, and as the two brothers cried out in fear, the knight turned to Natsu, and gave him a direct stare. Only after a short time collecting the scene, the brave mysterious man turned away from the alley and marched off toward the pier. The pink haired merchant shook his head, and watched the injured brothers flee together in agony, all while he grabbed his stolen cart, secured his precious pouch of money, and smiled his usual cheery grin. "Man, I hope that guy shows up for tomorrow's fights! I've gotta thank him in person!"

 **-Hisui-**

It was early in the morning, on the day July 2, X784. The green fields of Fiore glowed brilliantly across the open window, and the warm morning sky seemed inviting to all that laid eyes on it. Here, the princess to the Jeweled Kingdoms, and Lady Regent of Fiore rolled out of a fluffy white bed and onto her soft carpeted floor, with both arms extended to embrace the day before her.

"Well!" Hisui let out a sigh. "This seems like a wonderful day to go outside." Her eyes were already lost beyond her open bedroom window, and now the sun and warm air seemed too inviting to keep her locked away for an entire day. Hisui was always fond of the outdoors, and favored walking through her father's flower gardens more than anything in the world. She had spent far too much time trapped in the stony capital of Era. She almost forgot what home felt like back here in Fiore. Fiore was one of the nine kingdoms in Ishgar, and its local capital was Crocus, the Blooming City. Hisui was the High King's daughter, but until his death she remained here as the ruler of Fiore. She returned home with her father yesterday evening after a long trip in Era for some royal festival, and was planning on spending the day with King Toma in his flower gardens here at home.

Hisui leapt out of bed, and walked into her private quarters. She tidied herself up, and washed up for a delicious breakfast down stairs in the great hall. Once she changed into a mint green gown, the princess ran through her bedroom door, past the usual guards outside her room, and found her way to her father's former hall.

It was former because King Toma E. Fiore was now the total ruler of Ishgar, and his permanent residence was all the way across the Bay of Fairies in Era. He was sent to the throne seven years ago after the kingdom violently overthrew the brothers from House Dragneel, both rumored to wield black magic of horrible sorts. They were responsible for the death of the young king's future bride, and after being exiled, or presumed dead by several high lords, King Toma earned his natural claim in their place. Toma was related to the boy's father on a distant side of their family tree, and had the best claim left over in Ishgar. When the Lords Heartfilia and Dreyar both pledged their houses to his rule, the rest of the high-born noblemen followed and made way for the new era. Now, Toma rules with a comfortable grasp as he returns to Fiore to enjoy the presence of his glowing daughter.

"Father! Arcadios! Good morning!" Hisui strode into the hall, and greeted both her loving father, and his loyal body guard Arcadios, who stood by at the main entrance into the hall. Arcadios was a Lord Commander, and Captain of Toma's Royal Guard. He stood at the king's right-hand side for all matters, both political and military. Despite his usual stern appearance, Hisui leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before taking her seat at the lord's white birch table.

Toma, meanwhile, sat in his old chair at the head of the table, grinning in awe at the sight of his former palace. "Well, it does feel like seven years. I cannot believe I've been gone for the entire time." Toma laughed, and took a great big bite to eat out of his eggs and steak sitting on the plate in front of him. He washed it all down with a glass of morning wine before carrying on with his daughter. "So Dear, did you enjoy your stay in Era this past week?"

"Father. I'm never going to answer that with an honest face." Hisui hated the royal capital. She preferred Fiore's cities, like Crocus and Magnolia. The flowers and bright colors of the warm country side filled her with more delight than any building or rampart could back in Era. Unlike her far away friend, Lucy, Hisui only ever wanted to stay in her palace and family yard, and enjoy the soft smell of flowers and air in her home country of residence. She took a quick plate of food, and continued talking with her father on the matter. "But have you considered staying here over the fall? You know it is your favorite time of the year, remember?"

"Yes, I do remember…" Toma thought about the rolling hills of Fiore, filled by every line with pumpkin patches and other warm colored gourds. It was now July, but the autumn weather was quickly approaching as the royal harvest had just reached its halfway point. "Sometime when I think back, I do prefer Mercurius over Etherion." Mercurius was the name of the Fiore home castle, but it trembled in comparison to the mighty Etherion Palace of Era. Known as the true seat of Ishgar, the Etherion Palace had no rival this side of the world. Toma enjoyed it his first few years under rule, but after seven years ruling from a mighty keep, he longed for the beautiful country side that only his home Fiore had to offer. "I'm not sure…I may have to stay in Era this coming autumn."

"Awe." Hisui lowered her head. "I'm sorry to hear that. "What changed your mind?"

Toma sighed, and switched his hand over to his wine rather than meal. He lowered his eyebrows, and shook his head with dep concern. "There are rumors of a harsh winter ahead. Sailors from up north say the sea is solid ice, and its growing larger by the day. I've been told this coming spring will the beginning of the shortest growing season in history."

"Oh no!" Hisui nearly dropped her fork. "Well is it too late to double our efforts here? I-I'm sure I can find enough extra men to man the fields for the second half of the…"

"Relax, darling." Toma sighed with a smile, and leaned back in his chair. "I do not wish to burden you with my own paranoid thoughts. This will hardly be the worst winter endured by the people of Ishgar, and I would hate to be a king responsible for our first failed harvest. We'll make it through a late spring, and come back twice as strong starting next year."

"I suppose you're right…" Hisui rolled her eyes, and grinned as she took a bite from her own meal in satisfaction. This gave time for Toma to carry on with his further daily thoughts. "Anyway, I've recently heard back from Lord Dreyar of Tenrou. He's told me that grandson of his is quite interested in taking a visit to the capital."

"Oh?" Hisui clenched her shoulders while still sitting in her chair, and felt a bout of wind flush over her neck. Toma nodded, and swished his wine glass back and forth. "Well, I just figured if you wanted to return to the capital with me when he arrives, I'm sure he'd be happy to meet you in person."

"…" Hisui stopped her rolling, happy thoughts to let out an even bigger breath. "Father, I love the concern, but I am absolutely fine with reaching out to Lord Dreyar myself. I have heard good things about his grandson, and maybe if he would like to come here for a visit I would be more than happy to…"

" _Pssshh!_ " Toma spat out a quick ball of wine that was previously swishing around his mouth. He tossed the silver glass down onto the table, and began scraping his tongue frantically with a spoon next to his plate. Hisui stood halfway out of her seat, and grabbed a napkin. "Oh my, father! Are you okay?"

"Yea _kof_ , sorry, Dear!" Toma coughed through his remarks, and started using his spoon as a mirror to look down his own throat. "Sorry for any scare just now, but my wine grew bitter at the end.

"O-Oh, well that's good?" Hisui sat down slowly in her seat, but kept a puzzled, fearful expression locked on her father. He continued using his spoon as a tool, and gave her a nonchalant wave.

"Anyway…" The king continued. "You were saying you'd rather see him here? Well _kof_ I'm sure he's not opposed to that idea, and if I get _kof_ back to him right away I'm sure we could arrange…"

Toma let out a larger cough than before, and suddenly rolled out of his chair, and onto the floor. Hisui stood up violently from her own seat at the other end of the table, and now Captain Arcadios was rushing over to tend to his needy king.

"PLEASE STEP ASIDE, PRINCESS!" Arcadios thoughtfully passed by Hisui, and knelt to grab Toma's pulsing body. Hisui was down on her knees beside the two of them with both hands covering her mouth, and a tear rolled down her cheek the moment red blood came pouring out of her father's twitching mouth. King Tome throbbed for a short while longer, before letting his head fall back, and slammed against the ground. Hisui's hands hit the floor in a sobbing outburst, all while Arcadios leapt from his chair. He charged out into the hallway to call for the nearest healer.

Their king was dead, and by the look of his horrified daughter, this life was by no means ended from natural causes.

* * *

 **Well, I'm actually excited to finally release the first real chapter of this story. This is going to be a weird one. I've only been writing for 2 years, but I expect this will be my final story ever...**

 **...which means this story is going to be around for a _looong time_ , and will run _veeery slowly_. I have no idea when chapter 2 will be released, but that's the fun of it. These are my two favorite series, and they are total opposites! If anyone is wondering, the story will loosely follow the path of George's books, but will instead use names, places, and people from Hiro Mashima's work. There will be no Starks or Lannisters, but there will also be no Fairy Tail Guild Hall. It's a weird project...but I'm already having a blast planning it out! I love Hiro Mashima's characters more than most real people, but like George RR Martin's story, no one is safe here...and All Men Must Die.**

 **If you find yourself reading any of the chapters, thanks! I'd like to hear your thoughts in the comments. Until Next time!**


	4. 2 - A Knight with Wings

**Author's Note: I do not own _Fairy Tail_ , _A Song of Ice and Fire_ , or _Game of Thrones_. **

* * *

**II**

 **A Knight with Wings**

* * *

 **-Gray-**

The hooves of Gray's dark-haired frost fang drove through a deep line of snow, along the northern edge of the Frost Point Mountains. They had been riding for two hours now, and at some point, he began wondering when they would settle down and try to hunt something. Normally Cana was the tracker, but Gray spent a few days in the mountains this past week, so they were following his lead. He heard his fellow lumbermen discussing some wild beasts that came out at night on the northern slopes of the mountains. He also tried to get a night like this with Cana at least once every week. They rarely saw each other anymore, and he had no idea why. While trekking through the snowy paths under thick pine wood trees, Cana tossed him a leather flagon of wine, straight out of the island nation of Tenrou.

Gray stopped riding to take a quick drink, and then threw the pouch back at her. "Anyway, you were still talking."

"Right." Cana laughed, and led her horse right behind his. "Those guys that came to see your father said they were from the south. I guess there was a whole ship of them surveying the Frostlands, but only three of them lived. Some big storm came through and wiped out their entire ship; froze the thing right out of the water."

Gray slowed his gallop. "Hold on, if that's the case how did they make it back down here? The Frostlands are way far away from the rest of Ishgar."

Cana drove a hand through her thick brown hair right after she handed her comrade the bottle. "Yea, that bothers me too. I also heard the storm they hit wasn't a regular ice storm…it was worse."

"Worse?" Gray dodged an incoming tree branch. "What do mean worse?"

Cana stayed quiet for a minute as she ducked down to avoid the exact same branch. "It froze everything instantly. They said the sea was solid ice in seconds. Their sails completely froze over, and everyone who caught the cold on deck froze with it."

Gray shook his head. "Those guys said that? That's a load of crap. They probably left a Tenrou fleet to go exploring on their own, and came back trying to play it off cool. Did they ever say how they got back?"

Cana shrugged. "My father said they sailed back on a dinghy, but no one with a brain would believe that." The Sea of Mist below the Frostlands was always cold throughout the year. Large shelves of ice and frigid winds came out from the mainland upper continent, so the notion of a small boat making the voyage back down really troubled the two native northerners.

They continued to weave through icy trees just like every other hunter who lived in Isvan. Most hunters here did it for food, though, while Gray and Cana did it for sport. Gray knew that a large number of exotic creatures out of the Worthwood liked to pass through the Isvan Valley in the late summer, so he and his childhood partner always make a good effort to meet them halfway and earn a bit of fun along the way.

"Anyway, why did you not get to go with your dad?" Cana asked Gray why he was left here in Isvan, and did not get to join the northern lord on his long trip south.

Thankfully, Gray did not have to step in to argue his father's decision. He hated the south just as much as his father did. He always tried getting along with the nobles from the rest of Ishgar, but never had any luck. The lords were all pompous. The ladies never left their father's castles.

"Not sure," Gray answered sarcastically. "He probably anticipated me throwing myself overboard if I had to make the journey."

"Geeze, a little too dramatic don't ya think? Those places aren't all that bad, and I prefer them a hell of a lot more in the winter..."

Cana's words stopped as soon as a great big being ran out from over the hill and stopped right in front of her horse. The large beast smacked the girl from her stead, and used its other hand to beat the large horse in the opposite direction. Gray turned his mount, and tried reeling it in for better control, but the large white monster had already turned to scratch the face of the grey frost fang, but by the now the horse had bucked its master off, and ran back the way they came.

"Coward…" Gray rubbed his left arm after falling off his fleeing horse, and quickly rolled as a large, ape hand surrounded in white fur came crashing down beside him. As he made his maneuver, his body picked up too much speed and rolled down the sloped incline even more. Now he was crashing down the forest hill, dodging trees and bushes all around him while this crazed snowy primate was trying to smash him into the snow and dirt. Gray finally gained control, and drew a long sword from his back to hit he monster right on the upper right arm. The ape looked unfazed, and turned to show two frosty white eyes, void of both pupils and emotion. Gray went in for a second hit, but the ape grabbed his sword and tossed it off in the other direction.

"Ah shi…" Gray met the gorilla's fist right as it smacked him in the upper chest. His body went flying through the trees one more time, until his back cracked against a large based spruce. He fell with agony, and tried moving about to ensure his legs were still working. As he raised his head, the large alpine monster reared two large fists above is head, and prepare to bring them down. But just as it went to attack, a small, steel arrow came flying through its neck, and flew out the other side. Gray could see its silver point dripping with blood as it sat in the large woolly monster's flesh, but the monster only turned to greet Cana at the top of the hill holding a second arrow at the ready. She shot another arrow, this time through its right eye, and that second shot was the one to send it crashing to the ground, white and red in all as it thundered on its landing.

Cana ran down the slope as fast as she could, and knelt beside Gray to help him back up. "Woah, what the hell was that thing?"

"Agh…" Gray gave her a nod as a quick thanks, but kept his eyes on the now fallen vicious beast. "It's a Vulcan, but not one I've ever seen before. Those things are usually pink and green, but that one was all white…it must be from the Waste."

"Really?" Cana felt a shiver run down her spine. "You're saying there's stuff out in that no man's land?"

"Yep." Gray brushed off the snow, and found his sword buried in the ground. "I'm not sure why it's all the way down here, especially this late in the summer. I wonder if this has anything to do with that storm you were talking about."

Cana sighed. "Well, we were looking for exotic animals. I suppose this is a silver lining."

Gray tried agreeing with her. Yes, exotic animals from the Worthwood forest area was the goal, not from the no-man's land beyond the trees. That storm, those sailors, this monster…visions were starting to flush through Gray's mind like a broken reel of film in a cinema.

Both teenaged warriors stood silent for an idle second, but just before any extra thoughts could brew inside their minds, a soft voice was heard yelling behind them.

"Gray! Cana! There you are!" Riding toward them with a black mare, and Gray's runaway frost fang, was his step-sister and eldest of his siblings, Ultear. A hood was covering her silky black hair, and a long sword was strapped to her waste as she rode up beside the two hunters.

"Ultear?" Gray grabbed his horse from her hands, but kept his eyebrow raised. "Were you following us or something? What the hell are you doing out here?"

Ultear rolled her eyes, and turned her horse around. "No, and we need to get back to Iceberg…it's about father."

"Silver?" Cana let Gray jump on the open horse, and followed by getting on after him. "Is he alright?"

"I suppose," Ultear sounded annoyed with her lordly father. "But he's not alright in the head. Mother just told us why he's going down to the Crocus after all…he's not going for the funeral."

 **-Gildarts-**

The wisps of wind and wash hit the cliffside coast of Saber like a laundry bat against fine cloth. The white rock of the shoreline stretched far north, and all along the northwestern boarder of Isghar. Ores and rock rich with calcium left this land's stone shining with white bricks and light covered masonry. Saber was a land of scarce forest, and rough, rocky mountains. None were sharper in this territory than the Sabretooth Mountains that divided Saber with Isvan to the north. Thin but jagged, these slopes were near impossible for hosts to travel.

Which is why Gildarts of House Clive sailed with his liege lord on open water, around those mountains. They were en route for the flowery seat of Crocus, but had to make their stop halfway along the coastline to rest their stomachs. Men of Isvan preferred dirt roads and frost fangs over boats and waves, but they had no time to waste on their way down south. Lord Silver disdained the idea of toasting bread and wine with the fierce Jiemma of Saber, which is why his trusty side, Gildarts suggested an alternative meal prior to entering the stony seat of tigers.

"What a fowl idea for a guest to ruin his appetite before entering the home of a host…I admire that thinking from only true friends." Silver had never obsessed over the sea and its breeze, but tonight's late summer wind from the chilly northron waters were particularly delightful, excellent for a small dining feast on the rocky coastline.

Gildarts nodded as the men from their ship set out the materials; chairs and tables around a flattened plateau overlooking the water. No women made the voyage, but there were men in the brigade who knew their way around a pot and fire. Gildarts requested a closed table for he and his liege, farthest to the cliff's edge, and away from the others for a private council. While the day turned to dusk, the two lords made their seats apparent and took a flagon of wine at their table for some much needed discussion.

"Gods, it's been ages since we've seen this country." Gildarts filled his mug, and topped off Silver's with the wine as he opened on ages past. "Were we together at Whitetooth?"

"Aye," Silver replied. "That siege was our single diamond of victory in an absolutely terrible defeat. The whole war was so bad, they even named that battle after the loser."

"Sure," Gildarts recalled. "But _Jiemma's Winter_ is still something to be taken both ways, a harsh warning to friends, and a good jape for foes." Jiemma's Winter was the north's only victory in the rebellion of seven years ago. The eastern port of Whitetooth faced an attack from Silver's forces out of the Sabertooth Mountains, which caught the waiting tigers off guard and easy to dispatch. Once the Lord Jiemma Orland marched for defense of his city, Gildarts brought his men down from the same peaks, and took out their vanguard in a single assault. By the end of the battle, Silver and his men retreated back into the mountain's, but made sure to take something along for the ride.

"I carried that dead arm of his for miles before throwing it in the ocean. I was set on having it stuffed and mounted in the hearth room, but I knew Ur would have none of it."

"The Great Tiger's sword hand, taken like frost bite. You could have just frozen it in a block of ice, and left it at Whitetooth."

"Too funny," Silver smirked with red wine dripping off his cheek. "Too funny...well I wonder if the old cat's grown a new one in the last seven years. I'd hate for him to still hold a grudge on that."

"Oh, he will," Gildarts regretfully ensured Silver with a bigger laugh than his. "You don't just invite the man who took your arm into your house seven years later, and expect to fell normal. Knowing his ego, he'll probably challenge you to fight with his left."

"It'd be an insult to his own name." Silver leaned back in his chair, and waved that ridiculous claim away. "He'd send that nephew of his to me before stepping in, himself. If we're lucky that white-haired prick will be halfway down to Era by now."

"Could you imagine that little pest taking the throne? Seven years, and a stolen arm, and we lose the fight to the tiny tiger!" Gildarts waved for his camp's cook to make way for their table. "Speaking of which, where's my cat?"

A tall, burly soldier, with thick white hair, and a scar under his right eye marched over with a great smile and an even greater pot in his hands. "Took the boys a while to butcher the thing. Knowing you Icebergs, though, it had to be that one we killed."

Silver raised an eyebrow. "There's no way in Eclipse's Hell that thing will be edible. There's a reason tigers hunt other game."

"Relax." Gildarts ignored Silver's protest. "One bite, and you'll wanna be back down here more often, that I can promise you. Thank you, young man for the meal."

"Never a problem for the lords." The boy smirked, and poured the bizarre stew into two bowls for his liege commander and lieutenant.

Gildarts raised an eyebrow. "Say, where does a brute like you learn how to cook, anyway? I expect a soldier with such height to be working in the lumber guilds."

The guard shrugged off the judgement. "My sisters have taught me a thing or two, and said it's probably a good skill to have when out on the road with the bannermen. The muscles only came after I was knighted."

"I knew you were familiar." Silver put down his mug to address his knight with more respect. "You were one of the village men who rode to stop the Ice Lake Raid. Elfman of Strauss, if I can remember correctly?"

The knight put his hand on the pommel of his hanging sword, and bowed his head. "Ser Elfman, thanks to your hand. I was fortunate to be one of the living militia men after that attack. Lord Vastia and your men came in to save what was left of the shore line, and without that we were goners." Elfman then remembered the enemy raiders from the north had more living by the end of the raid than the men from his village, which always left him curious after the saviors from Iceberg intervened. "I still wonder what happened to the surviving Caits."

Gildarts took his wine, and shook his head softly. "Executed. Took their own ropes and hanged them outside of Mikage. Never knew where they got their weapons, but they were too dangerous to be kept in stocks, or transferred to guilds." Gildarts took his last sip from the red, and capped off the flagon. "Ser Knight, can you fetch us some more wine? My frozen friend here needs some more encouragement before facing the _live_ Tiger. Apparently eating a dead one isn't enough of a mind game for him."

Elfman laughed at the teasing gestures, and took the drink too fill it up by the camp. Silver's gaze was locked on the open water during most of the conversation, which led Gildarts to believe it was time for their one-on-one conversation. "You had to bring the good ones along for the ride, don't you?"

"The good, the young, I needed them all. "Silver watched the waters crash below cliffs on the rocks of white. He paused for a brief moment to capture Gildart's full attention, and then pulled a small piece of parchment from his surcoat. "A sailor passed us by in Margaret Town. I had the fortune of taking this off his person before leaving the town."

Gildarts was more confused to see the estranged look on his liege's face, but reached out to discretely grab the note, and folded it over his plate to read its contents. "An order from Lord Makarov of House Dreyar…this was meant for your sailor boys found in the frozen seas."

"Yes it was," Silver reaffirmed. "I guessed it on the mark…they were sent there to range for someone. Whoever tipped the Tenrou Lord off, I'm not sure, but now the Ol' Lightning Bolt thinks he's taking a stand for the rest of the kingdom."

"Oh piss on that…" Gildarts rolled his eyes. "Those Tenrou sailors are fools. Maybe they lost one of their own, and went out looking for him in the Wastewater. Why should it matter to us? You need to seal this thing back up, and make sure it finds its way to those sailors before someone else finds out."

Silver grabbed the note, but placed it back in his pocket. "With council like that, I should have taken a different lieutenant."

Gildarts felt the sound of Elfman's stony feet returning to their spot, and ended the conversation there. "I'll march with you everywhere you go, and against anyone you need. That much you should know...but not if _everyone_ means _everyone against us_. If so, you really should find a new council."

 **-Minerva-**

"You're going to leave by the end of the day. I expect to hear from you once you've reached the capital."

Minerva sat beside her loud and forceful lord father as he finished giving instructions to one of his subservient banner men. This was a noble boy, a knight from a second branch of his family. He was one of the better-looking lords in the service of her father, and was one of the reasons she enjoyed staying around his murky castle. Tasked with riding to the capital, and meeting with the mourning princess, Sting Eucliffe was instructed by Lord Orland to ask for her hand in marriage. Minerva convinced her father that one of his family members should be marrying the future queen, and with a confirmed royal union between House Fiore and House Orland, even if it was indirect, their family would earn significant influence throughout the future kingdom.

"Gsh, you don't have to tell me twice." Lord Sting sat at the other end of the table, away from the lord and his daughter. She watched as he drank a confident swig of his wine, and wiped his mouth clean before getting up. "I'll be sure to send ya more than my word once I get there. Hell, I may even slip a sum of the dowry in there too."

"Stop joking around, boy." Lord Jiemma was having none of the smart mouthed nonsense coming from the young blonde knight. His sunken eyes, topped by light and bushy eyebrows, pierced over the table to make sure his message was being heard. Minerva hated looking at her father's eyes, and was thankful she was sitting beside him, away from his horrible gaze. They were almost completely white, as if they lacked pupils, and held a black underlining around his lower eyelid. When paired with his large, muscular physique, it gave the Lord of Saber an _otherworldly_ look.

He was a very stern ruler, tall, but elderly. Distinguished by his massive, extremely muscular build, he was untarnished by no means. He had marked facial features, scares from war, and a long, massive and mildly rounded nose finishing off his face. Not anything like his stunning, black haired daughter, and the future heir to his throne. She was a young, exotic beauty despite her father's monstrous stature. Minerva did behave like him, though. Always thinking very highly of herself, and always expecting others to treat her as such. She almost ruled with her father as his married lady, not daughter. Her influence was rather great despite his forceful attitude, and even though he felt most women were not well-suited for rule, he always had slight faith in his daughter's wit.

Which is why he took her advice, and ordered the Lords Sting and Rogue to the capital. Formal alliances would win them a more powerful seat in the kingdom, and would provide Saber with more money and influence. She thought about their advancing power, even as Sting left the hall with a pompous expression still glued to his face. Sting was related to Lord Jiemma, and Rogue, a knight from his childhood, was not. It was imperative that the late Lord Eucliffe's boy would meet with the grieving queen, and propose for her hand in marriage. It was her responsibility, to get him prepared for the occasion once it came.

"I should probably just go with him, Father. I know he'll be better off that way. He's to air headed to think straight once his ego starts flowing."

"Nonsense." Now that Sting was gone, Jiemma shot up from his chair, and turned for the door into his office. "The boy is of age. You saw that shit-eating grin of his. He's more excited about this than anyone." Jiemma crossed his left arm over his body to grab the handle for his door, and swung it open while his daughter smirked and followed. She took a seat without any invitation, and carried on with her point.

"His excitement and…free reign…is fine with me as well, but he needs to keep himself in check before getting the marriage sealed. The Flower Princess is still Queen Regent until married, and if we're not careful she may change the law to her favor."

"Your worrying is misplaced." Jiemma declared. "King Toma always assured me Hisui never actually wanted to inherit the throne. It made his decision to seize it for himself rather foolish, but he was certain she was willing to marry. If I send her prospective husband with my daughter, the young queen might assume the wrong idea."

"Oh trust me." Minerva kept her eyes looking out the window. "If I went with them, she'd be down on her knees handing him the crown before the ceremony." She prided herself for a skill of dealing with the people, both high born and low. Her convincing tactics were just a small part in a political arsenal nestled in her mind, despite ruling inexperience.

 _Knock_

"Oh!" She finally turned to look at her father's milky eyes. "Which reminds me, I made a new friend today. I asked her to come and visit once Sting made his leave. Come in."

Jiemma kept his pointed eyebrow raised as he leaned back to comfortably measure who came into his chamber. A frail, petite girl with bobbed white hair tip-toed into the massive office, and gently shut the door behind her. Jiemma took a judgement on her tattered clothes to assume she was low-born, which left her invitation to this meeting that much more interesting to him.

"Father, this is my new friend Yukino. She's come all the way here from Alakitasia." Minerva knew there would be no fooling her father with that sort of introduction. The girl was too fair skinned, and to wide-eyed to find a home across the Broken Sea. This girl was from Ishgar, but Minerva already knew that.

Yukino shook with every step, and gently spoke to her new liege. "Actually, I-I am from Saber. I grew up in Whitetooth with my older sister many years ago."

"Hmm…" Jiemma kept his penciled eyebrow raised. "But you _are_ from Alakitasia?"

Yukino felt goose skin taking her legs, all while Minerva kept looking down her father's frightening physique. The frail girl kept hands crossed at her stomach, and her eyes started measuring lines on the carpeted floor. "Y-Yes sir, with my sister. We moved together seven years ago. After the siege."

Minerva always enjoyed studying her father's face whenever his _winter siege_ was mentioned in his presence. She usually liked seeing the broken face of the man that mentioned it, but she knew the tall, menacing lord had no reason to harm such a shivering girl in his own house.

Jiemma's reply was flat. "You moved."

Yukino's eyes slowly moved up, and met with the white clouds inside Jiemma's eye sockets. They looked like tiny ghosts ready to drag her in only for speaking a word, but suddenly her horrified gaze was broken by a hand reaching out to grab her's.

"It's all fine, little one. Have a seat, and take a breath. You have nothing to fear here." Minerva's sealing smile always left those weak to her comfortable. Yukino eased into an open chair with the warm guidance of Minerva, and just then the tall, black haired vixen born to Lord Jiemma of Saber stood and whipped her way for the door.

"I'll ask the guards for wine and bread. You must be starving after your long voyage from Balam Bay."

 **-Makarov-**

Makarov sat at the foot of the tall, sprouting tree that towered over the rest of his garden and family home. Underneath the golden-yellow canopy crown of the Tenrou Tree was his favorite place to be in all the Jeweled Kingdoms. Even when he was a young boy whizzing through his father's Garden of Light, the Tenrou Tree was a monstrous monument of nature.

The Tenrou Islands were a chained kingdom of medium-rocky islands all covered by lush vegetation, painted with several arrays of greens and yellows. The far side of the capital island was particularly rocky, possessing large formations jutting outwards from the ground, protruding above the sea on the far side, and another near the center of the island, overlooking it. The summit of these rocks was paired with waterfalls falling down to a small lake below. Topping these dangerous looking works of stone stood the most distinctive element of the island: the great Tenrou Tree. A gigantic tree with a gnarled, mildly curved trunk ending in a number of large branches; it sustained its own description from sailors as "an island on top of an island." The ruling canopy below the center trunk was lush with similar trees of average heights, with the bark on the trees bearing a distinct shade of red at certain times during the day.

At the base of the large center tree was also the resting place of a seven-year old monument, laid out in a small clearing surrounded by thick vegetation. This was a large and yet sober structure composed of light stone, with a series of three rectangular steps, flanked by four small pillars with square sections, one sitting at each corner. At the center was a pair of vertically-placed, flat carved stones, and a circular hole generated by two carved semicircles present on each stone's inner side, granting the tomb with its only hand-carved decor. Moss had grown throughout the structure due to its age, with small plants and lichens covering it here and there, but a small epitaph was carved at the floor of the two center pillars still visible to this day.

 _Mavis Vermillion X764-X777_

" _The Last Fairy"_

Makarov spent more time with Mavis at her grave than he did with his own son, or even grandson. The weather was always calm, every time he ventured this far away from Sirius, and the wildlife stirred so peacefully around the clearing, just as the little fairy would have liked it.

"I'm afraid the world you left us is only getting worse, dear." Makarov was in his 88th year, ten full years older than the now-dead King Toma. The fact that he was speaking to the grave of a thirteen-year-old girl showed the broken rule of justice left in the Jeweled Kingdoms of Ishgar. As Warden of the South, and Lord of Tenrou, he was pledged with guarding the last line of Fairies that passed through his land centuries ago. House Dreyar ruled as the wards of the Tenrou Islands, but they were not the original figures of this land. Ages before the conquest of the Dragon Kings, before the Worthwood sea stretched as an arm across the ocean into Alakitasia, Fairies stirred in the middle of Ishgar. These little beings knew every aspect of the natural world, and some even mastered a craft for the _unnatural_ as well.

But as men entered their land, started their conflicts, and slaughtered them by the score, the secrets of Dragons were created by the Fairies. Some say the Fairies used old sorcery to summon them all the way from the Black Mountains in the west, while some still claim it was the magic of the Fairies themselves that spawned the mighty creatures into existence. For either case, the dangerous beasts of fire were brought here to protect the Fairies, but with man and his clever mind for killing, the dragons too eventually learned of their own weakness.

From there, humans conquered dragons, humans slaughtered the fairies, and what species remained from generations of cross-breeding between humans and fairies became the citizens of Tenrou. It was Igneel the Fire King that forged the Jeweled Throne of Ishgar to unite nine nations into one, but his surviving wife, and Dowager Queen-Grandeena of the Sky was the ruling monarch that actually secured peace for the frightened children of old. Fairies were given land in the Tenrou Islands, away from the rest of Ishgar, and the single man that stepped to claim their defense was given the title as Lord of Tenrou, and Warden of the South. Faust the First Dreyar accepted the call, and was thus given his reward. From there, it was apparent that every lightning lord of Dreyar would rule to protect the surviving line of Fairies.

That line ended, when the Black King Zeref murdered and betrayed his future queen to be, seven years ago. It was said that humans, namely the first dragon lords, slayed the fairies to acquire magical power. This sacrifice, if performed in the right way, would present the human slayer with untold energy unique to their line. Zeref the Black was the last Dragneel to rule, and the dynasty of his house ended on the death bed of Mavis Vermilion.

But Makarov's specific visit for today was launched after hearing the news of King Toma's death. In light of such dismal luck falling on the Jeweled Throne, the remaining heir of House Fiore was a girl, and she required a lord husband as King to preserve her rule.

"If you keep coming here, I may as well bury you with her," said an approaching voice from the old gravel road out of the forest.

Makarov turned to find the striking face of his fearsome grandson and future heir of Tenrou, Laxus, standing in the gravel and green. His father, Ivan, was still waiting on the 88-year-old lord to pass out of this world, but Makarov always figured Laxus would make the better ruler. Both men had the same, ferocious attitude toward power, but Laxus was young. He knew how to surround himself with wiser sort of council.

"Laxus. I suppose you've come to talk with me about my proposal." Makarov did always assume that Laxus would claim his future seat, but now he made way for the young lightning knight to wed the widowed princess, Hisui of the House Fiore. The flower princess had always heard good things regarding the stern lightning lord, but it still feared Makarov knowing that his grandson would actually have to marry such a kind woman to secure his own title.

"Why else would I waste my time coming out here?" He snapped back to his elder lord and grandfather. Makarov never felt any disrespect from Laxus, that usually came more from his father. Laxus did however, know when to act out in order to get what he wanted. "The girl's been dead for seven years. Give your failure a rest, geezer. Move on to a new one."

"What a way to put it." Makarov turned with a raised brow as he went to discuss his own plan further. "It is a stain on my life, but perhaps having you marry the queen will be my greatest blunder yet."

"If they give my failed credit to you, that speaks more about the high lords than anyone else. I plan on sailing for Era tonight, but I wanted to let you know before raising anchor."

Makarov stood, and walked toward the gravel street to signal that it was time for him to go. "Stopping to see me is very kind, but you need not say anything else to me. You know what I require from you, Laxus."

"Give me a few years, and you'll be all set." Laxus provided a wry smile as they passed through lush red and green undergrowth, talking about future marriages and titles to come. Makarov had lost most love for his adult son, and future Lord of Tenrou, Ivan. It was probably the sole reason he lasted such a long 88-year-long life. He knew one false step along the way would leave Laxus to fall in the hands of his father, which is probably why the Old Lightning Bolt spent more time watching over Laxus than he did Mavis. "Two years for two boys, one for Jeweled Throne, and one for the Fairies."

"Mhm…" Makarov groaned through the simplistic tone of Laxus's words. But it was true. One son to secure his marriage to the crown, and a second to rule over Tenrou, out of Ivan's grasp. If Makarov could hold his life until that second child was born, he could probably be buried peacefully beside the Fairies and Dreyars alike. All of this was assuming that Laxus actually wanted the crown; in truth all Makarov required was an heir apparent to stop his own.

He wanted to talk more, but the two bolt lords received a flurry of men running full force along the old wood road. Laxus grabbed his sword's pommel, but never lifted the blade from its sheath as it was still the household guard of Tenrou. The Old Lightning Bolt stepped forward, and received his men with ease. "Apologies if my absence has led to your own stress. What is the matter, now?"

One man stood tall, and gave him a hearty salute. "Message from a sailor in town. Sir Mest of House Dorenbolt has returned from his voyage. He's waiting for you with Lord Ivan in the hall."

"As I expected." Makarov growled underneath his breath, and marched faster on his way out of the forest. "At least tell me they haven't been talking for very long."

 **-Natsu-**

Natsu had returned home to his modest burrow inside Eisen quite a while ago. He cleaned all that he could of his scattered cart and affairs off the street from his attack, but his paramount concern was making sure every cent of his 75,000 Aloks was still inside his satchel. 50,000 was his ticket to enter the fighting pits, and 25,000 could be made as an investment toward a ship out of this stinking city once and for all. He needed more for the fights, since his only weapon was the small, stony dagger left by his family, meaning he would need to rent equipment from the stadium armory.

It was better for him to spend rent on swords and armor than using it on his dingy little bedsit. Just a furnace, and sleep sack was all that the Dragneel boy owned outside of his cart. The most expensive thing about his home was the lock on the door, and that strange little dagger mentioned before. Natsu knew he hailed from the Jeweled Kingdoms, but his family had no distinct connection to ruby. House Dragneel had claim to all nine primary gems of Ishgar, so the fact that this eccentric trinket was made of only one type of stone always left him puzzled, and eventually grumpy. He lived in Era for ten years, why did he have a hard time remembering any of it? Most everything he knows about it now came from the few days overseas he spent with his brother, Zeref. Then there was the half of a year they spent together in Eisen, then seven years passed, and Natsu still stared at that dagger with disappointment in his eyes.

"Why are you a ruby?" Surely a dimwitted way of phrasing a question to a rock, but Natsu was just that; charming, but rather empty-headed. He knew gems because of his brother, and he knew how to fight because he liked it. He knew nothing else from that though; maybe songs from his family's ancient history, or how the last fairy died to send him away from the royal keep in Era.

He knew violence, though. Not killing, never killing, but for sport. In the Free City of Eisen, any who entered the fighting pits risked their life, so gold was the cost to forfeit that for entry. Without gold, your only other option was challenging the guards at the stadium, beating them in a fight, and walking in by yourself. It would be dishonest to say Natsu never tried this before. One time, he actually devised a clever plan to round up a few drunken sailors on the docks to join him in the raid, but this all failed when the drunks collapsed halfway through the fighting. The guards never through him in a jail, nor punished him for trying to enter, they simply laughed, puffed their iron plated chests, and waved him along. One of them tried buying gems off him for a Mother's Day gift at a later date, and we could just say that transaction never happened.

Natsu was ready this time, though. He forgot what a real steel sword felt like in the palm of his hand. Eastern knights rarely entered the exotic pits of Alakitasia, so their brute force of hacking and smashing was the perfect battle plan for any would be warrior journeying out of the Jeweled Kingdoms.

"Tomorrow's the day. I'm getting out of here, getting my ship, and sailing around Alakitasia." Natsu had no long-term ambitions, save one. Find Zeref, finding his missing brother.

* * *

Natsu sat on one of the many cool stone benches down below the great arena—Eisen Stadium. Dark grey bricks, almost the color of rotten green decorated the outside structure, with accents of blue roofing and golden frames around doors and windows finishing the design. It was by no means the nicest, or even largest of the western fighting pits, but it was well purchased by the Magister of Eisen, Everlue. Fans from all around the middle peninsula of eastern Alakitasia came to enjoy the circuit of fighting pit challenges this time of year, and Eisen usually offered the cheapest of first round seats. Fights were performed in groups of eight, every man for themselves. There were also branches that fighters could take to face vicious beasts and monsters as well, but as any good fighter from Alakitasia can agree; there is nothing more exhilarating than killing a man who is trying to kill you, unless you take his wife to bed with you after the fighting is all done.

Natsu had no ambition to slay beasts, or steal wives from fighters, however. He was a man without lust, greed, and envy. He only held passion for combat, and his name. The Dragneels were proud warriors during their days of rule. They had to be after several centuries of time killed off their dragon mounts, and left them to rule the Jeweled Kingdoms with nothing but tales of faux magic spells, and ancient rituals. Dragneel kings were always said to possess _other-worldly_ abilities, but Natsu had yet to discover any truth to this notion in his eighteenth year of breath.

The beasts were being dragged off the sandy pit above while he and the other man fighters waited below. Natsu was pleased to see that his fights were saved for last. He wanted to use the time he had to scan the opponents for everything they had on them. He had barely been involved in real fits, though, so it is safe to wonder just what he was actually taking down during his measurements of the competition. It was just as he expected, phoenix knights from the northern island of Veronica clad in sky and gold plating, Eisen thugs with nothing but tattered rags, yet impressive swords latched to their belts. Some men from the south that he assumed were just slavers looking for their own bit of fun in a free man's pit. He assumed they would try to bring fighter back down to Balam Bay for the Markets of Men, which is why he made sure to sit at the opposite end of the stationary room from them. From there, he saw the groups of fighters he did not recognize by dress. Any mismatch of odd looking armor and queer looking people made Natsu realize that he clearly did not know enough about this world that he and his brother once ruled half of, but at least he managed to know what eastern looking knights wore to their fights.

Which is exactly what he came across during his wait. That same man who saved him in the ally way just a day before was sitting alone by the door of the chamber. He still had polished steel armor, trimmed in slight gold, but Natsu could gather more from his view today thanks to the passing hours of waiting. The man's armor was centered with a thin golden cross stretching horizontally across his breastplate, and his sword was equipped with a winged-shaped hand guard. This matched no description of a royal house or knightly guard that came from his home land. There have always been tales of holy knights from the Isle of Zentopia who took Ishgar steel for their own armies, the cross would explain that much at least. Except no religion favored that marking. The Zodiacs stuck to their circle, cut with twelve divided wedges, the worshipers of black magic had their gnarled pointed crown colored in black, and the northerners had no specific sigil or emblem to demonstrate their bizarre fascination with the Sun and Moon. But they did like the color violet, which this knight had none of covering his suit.

Natsu eventually got lost in his study, and realized that knight, along with many others in the room, were far better equipped for fighting than he was. He managed to rent out a pair of bronze bracers for both arms, a thin iron chest plate nearly too big for his size, and chausses that only covered his knees and shins, making it quite difficult to bend and move. He had no helm, no abdomen protection, no boots or grieves, and only a small buckler shield made of steel studded wood, paired with a long sword that was surprisingly sharp for the rest of his purchases. He could tell the plate armor was no good here. Only Veronica made plate steel like the Ishgari. Fast fighters of the west favored leather and smaller sized armors, nothing that a full-suited knight could make any use of. Natsu's former practice was with broadsword and shield, and his tiny dagger that had no use to him in this fight.

The bell up top rang, and all the men in his chamber stood up, Natsu's eyes went straight to the mystery knight by the door for some strange reason, but turned away to avoid receiving any early confrontation. But he did manage to earn that with a second fight standing to his back.

"I'm glad they started letting street rats in on these fights. Makes my rise to the next round that much easier."

"From what I can tell, everyone in here might be a street rat except for the guys by the door." Natsu never turned around to greet the obnoxious voice, and decided it would be best to end the talk there.

The other man felt differently. "Yea, and they're wearing eastern armor. It's boiling hot up there, and sand isn't the best thing to get trapped behind your leg pieces. Not to mention a good poke with a scimitar sends those flashy iron suits crashing to the ground.

 _Iron scimitar_ Natsu thought, again without turning around. _Thanks for the give-away._

"Well, at least they went all the way with it. Did you not have enough money for the full reject suit, or did you chicken out halfway through the purchase."

That was meant for Natsu, and he could already feel the dragon's fire boiling inside him. "Let's just say I want this fight to be easy for everyone else."

"Ha! So do I." The man behind Natsu drew his curved blade, and gently laid the cut steel right on Natsu's left shoulder. The pink-haired dragon made no cause for movement, and waited for one of the chamber guards to lash out at the deranged swordsman to avoid getting his shoulder cut open in two.

He did not, however, expect the latch from his chest plate to be cut by the swordsman as he took his weapon back to his sheath. A tiny laugh escaped the man's breath, and Natsu kept his eyes clenched with anger to avoid causing a second scene before making to his dream in the pits. His new plan now involved ripping his now-broken chest piece off, and beating that man to near-death with it, but he would have to get that pesky scimitar sword out of his hands first.

The trail of men walked out to the blistering mid-day heat, sun blazing overhead, and a shine of blue from the sky let them know that the crowd would be packed and rambunctious for blood. The master of ceremony towered from the magister's box, spelling on about some _mortal law_ that only gave the notion of killing other men a positive trait. Natsu had never taken the blood of another man before. He was not his brother. He never actually figured out what happened to the sweet little Vermilion girl who used to run around his father's palace with him and Zeref, but as they sailed off for their new life without her, his older brother explained her death as beast that he could. The only problem was that Natsu still had no idea how to accept it.

He knew he was no killer though, and although he loved the thrill of a good fight, blood could not be spill by the masses with his own hand. Eight men, including himself bowed for their host, and pledged their lives for entertainment of Eisen. Natsu knew he wanted to remain free of sin, but the other fighters were not going to bar their swords quite like that. The mustachioed magister's hands clapped, which rang throughout the rest of the arena. The eight men spread out over the dusty playing field, and each drew arms to begin their fight.

Natsu felt movement from his direct left, and dodged the oncoming blow of a spiked morningstar mace aimed right for his shoulder. He kept his dangly plate of armor around his body, and swirled through the sand to dodge a second attack from the same fighter. He had a blood red tunic of leather on, and a bizarre black head of hair towering in a small pompadour shape. Two tiny whiskers of hair crossed both of his cheeks, but Natsu only noticed the fire in his eyes as he kept hacking at the poor Ishgari's broken suit of armor.

 _He's trying to take my chest piece away. I'll be an open book to a mace like that._ Natsu caught his balance, finally, and drew up his rounded wooden breaker shield. The lead spike of the warrior's mace smashed into the wood, and stayed stuck in its planks. Natsu took the butt of his sword, and smashed it into the un-masked head of his assailant, knocking him to the ground, and removing him from the fight.

Another man charged him down with a long halberd spear, and even knocked the longsword out of Natsu's hands. Natsu dropped his own shield for a bare second, and grabbed the top end of the spear for a good yank, taking it from its owner, and paying him back with a smack of the spears handle again upside the head.

Natsu studied the field, only half the fighter still remained, but no sight of the shiny steel knight in this cloud of obnoxious sand. He scanned area for his mystery hero, until a slash from a familiar scimitar cam crashing down in front of him. "Twelve Blessings for the fool knight!" He japed with a second slash of his curved sword, and Natsu flipped backwards in an acrobatic dodge to reaffirm his own ground.

"You don't bless all of them at once, ya idiot!" Natsu referred to his kingdom's 12 Zodiac gods, which were all one aspect of the same celestial being. Not all were meant to be prayed to at once, which voided the attacker's comment as ridiculous in the mind of an Ishgari. "You say: _Let the Strength of Taurus the Bull win this fight for you!_ Or some crap like that." Natsu never classified himself as a religious fanatic, just a protector of his homeland's honor.

"I only need to know the one you pray to for death, because you'll be meeting him with one last blow from Kage's Scimitar!"

Kageyama was a reoccurring champion in these pits. He never traveled very often away from Eisen. This was his arena, unless his master _Reaper Knight_ came to take his place. Natsu recognized he gold handle with amethyst crusted diamonds earlier, and now knew the level of competition he was dealing with. He also knew Kage hated it when people mispronounced his name.

"Ha!" The former prince cried with laughter. "The little doggy came out to fight instead of reaper! How rich!"

"Kage! You rat!" The blacked haired sword speller slashed out again and again to take off the arms of Natsu, but the street merchant was far too nimble to take any of the hits to his body. He did manage to get his sword and shield back, and blocked a second assault of attacks that came a little too close to his head for comfort. Natsu swung his solid steel broadsword up toward Kage's head, but the man bowed his body forward, and only managed to lose the back end of his balled pony tail in the process.

The victim, furious with his new hair style, swung his blade around more and more, even managing to break Natsu's shield clean in half, leaving him to only deflect each attack with a parry from his sword. Natsu was being backed into a corner, and felt the dust growing behind his feet, meaning the edge of the wall was coming up quickly.

As Kage brought his sword in for two more heavy hits, Natsu swung upward to try and knock his enemy's weapon fee. It did not world, but Natsu used it to roll in the sand rightward, letting Kage send his scimitar crashing into the stone wall of the pit.

Natsu stood up, tossed his damaged sword to the side, then ripped the left strap on his chest plate clean off. He waited for the enemy swordsman to turn around and see his grinning face before slamming the hard plate of bronze right for his jaw, which cracked Kage's bone and sent him crashing to the ground in a daze of pain.

Natsu tossed his bronze plate, but suddenly remembered one more enemy had to be remaining. He bent down to grab the decorated scimitar of Kageyama, but as he turned to use it in defense, the silver knight from before chopped it in clean half with a swing of his powerful winged broad sword.

Natsu froze with a shock hitting his mind and lungs, but then felt the pommel of the mystery knight's sword hit him in the stomach. Fans cheered, and some booed with the lack of a kill at the end of their fight, but the fight was all over now. Natsu winced with pain as men came into the grab the survivors. He hoped none of them were the same slavers from before, but forgot all about it as the knight champion stepped up to the middle of the arena to accept his fame and glory. Natsu's eyes were fading into sleep, but before the black took his vision, he could almost swear the knight was a woman when the figure removed their glistening helmet, or perhaps just a man with extremely gorgeous scarlet locks.

* * *

 **Author's Note: So George RR Martin's favorite thing to do is to compile as much detail into single blocks of text that he can to help aid the experience of the character and the reader. I tried to mimic that. If you think some of the descriptions seem too wordy, it's probably because I'm attempting to mimic his style from A Game of Thrones.**

 **ANYWAY! It feels very good to release another chapter to the website. This story is already fun to write for me, and aI already have 40 chapters planned and written down in my notes log on paper (I have an idea for 70-80 total chapters, so it's gonna be a nice long one!) Let me know how I'm doing, or if you're enjoying the story so far! Until next time!**


	5. 3 - The Ice Lord

**Author's note: I do not own _Fairy Tail, A Song of Ice and Fire,_ or _Game of Thrones_.**

* * *

 **III**

 **The Ice Lord**

* * *

 **-Gray-**

Gray sat in the great hall of Iceberg with his immediate family members scattered about the room. A great fire was drawn earlier, but the embers dwindled with the minutes of everlasting debate still looming in the air. The dark, worthwood oak planks that lined the inner hall left a foreboding presence in the chamber of the Lord, and silence now filled the chilly void left by a family struck with awe. A small table topped with warmed milk, paired with cinnamon dusted bread slices sat untouched while the Fullbusters waited in their bleakness.

Why independence? Gray wondered this periodically. Why was the mighty Lord Silver so afraid of another's rule? The men of House Fullbuster were the last to join the Dragneel fold hundreds of years ago at the Dragon's Dawn, and their entry into the united Jeweled Kingdoms was the most peaceful by far. Lord Silver, like his fathers and forefathers before, had loyally served as Wardens of the North for generations, yet since the departure of the last Black Dragon Zeref, he now craved independence for a second time.

"If no one is heading off to bed, then I suppose I'll fetch a guard to bring more wood for the fire." Lady Ur stood after realizing her children were not ready for sleep, even after the exhaustion of their earlier conversation. Gray looked at her empty seat when she got up, but kept his thoughts to his own mind.

He wished his mother, Mika, were still alive. He stills sees her face in Meldy's. They even have the same head of cherry blossom pink in their hair. Mika was originally a Dragneel by birth. Gray's first mother was very wise, and provided excellent counsel for Silver. She had enough fire in her veins to even combat his stubborn mind. He joined the Shatter Rebellion in her name, but she had no intention of taking the throne in a victory. Silver knew that too. He just wanted any excuse he could find to isolate Isvan once again from the clutches of the "Jeweled Tyranny."

Ur was gentle, and wise just as Mika was, but House Milkovich was loyal to Silver's rebellious tendencies. She had known near-blind subservience to House Fullbuster before her marriage, and tried her best to follow that after their union. Not out of fear, but out of loyalty. Her only concern now was to protect her own children, which is why she only held the strength to stop Silver's children from join him, and not enough to keep him from making the trip down south.

"If I fell asleep, I wouldn't know when to wake up." Ultear admitted to her kin as she leaned against the dwindling warm hearth. Her step-sister, Meldy, sat curled up by her feet, and Lyon sat in a chair next to her with a hand still pressed to her shoulder.

Cana remained silent the longest. Gray was naturally the better brooder, but Cana provided an excellent challenge to that title once she heard the news. House Fullbuster, in the name of its Lord Silver, marched down to the south to mourn the death of King Toma, but also planned to announce secession from the Jeweled Kingdoms.

"Seven years after rebellion, and this happens." Lyon said with disgust. "He must really think the Flower Princess will fold to his offer after all."

"He's still stopping in Tigre." Meldy now held Lyon's hand that was pressed against her shoulder. "What if they find out? Why would he not pass through the Bay?"

"He wasn't going to Era." Gray explained, knowing the Bay of Fairies would lead Silver to the capital first, not Fiore. "Marching a host toward Era would mean he's revolting. He wanted to go to Fiore to declare independence because it would be more peaceful." Strangely, Gray knew his father rather well, even if he thought of him as a fool of a man.

"Then why bring a host?" Ultear argued with her step-brother.

Gray did not look in her direction. "He still has to make it back home, somehow."

Silence returned to the hall. All children were showing their frustration, and each member of the family was losing their words on the matter. Ultear was not impressed with anything laid out so far. "Isvan still needs ruling, and winter will soon approach with the end of summer just around the corner. Silver will either remain in Fiore to negotiate his terms with the Regent Princess, or he'll face war, and ultimately persecution if found guilty of treason." Her eyes fell on her step-brother.

"He needs to return home, or you need to take his place."

Gray ignored Ultear's glare, and finally turned to a shifting Cana, who believed she had the only remaining bit of sense left in the room. "He will, and we'll pave him a road if we have to."

Cana stood from her spot on the floor by the fire, and looked at Gray. She knew what he was thinking, and had half a mind to hold his head to that hot fire. "Whether you want to admit it or not, like your father insisted, you were left here to rule in Isvan. You're the acting Lord of Iceberg, and the Warden of the North for its people. They'll do whatever you say, even if it's following your dolt of a father down to war."

"Excuse me?" Ultear's stance was firm. "Your father followed that dolt into the south, and as a loyal bannerman and counselor, he seemed to fail at reining him in."

"I never said my father was innocent." Cana's eyes were glued to the fire. Her stare acted as Gray's way of knowing the anger still stuck inside her heart. She looked away from the group and further into the flames. "My father is a survivor, though, and I'm sure he'll find a way to get the two of them to their point safely. Until then we need to have all our men ready and available for their commanders. We need to stay here in Isvan on guard."

Cana retrieved a hanging bow and quiver from beside the hearth, and turned for the door. "I'm returning to Alberona to alert my remaining house guard. I'll wait for your orders…my Lord." She turned at her last remark, and then left for the door.

Gray sat coldly in his seat, and felt a tremendous weight of unknown proportions take his shoulders by surprise. He was not anticipating this level of responsibility after the departure of his Lord father from Iceburg. Now his friends were spreading themselves out as well. He noticed Lyon stand from his to look out the door as well. "I'm returning home too. I'll postpone the wedding plans until this whole debacle has been settled. I'll keep my men in Margaret Town until your order has been received, Gray." He put a hand on Gray's shoulder before following Cana out the door, leaving the three Fullbuster children alone by the hearth.

Meldy ran out the door after Lyon without saying a word, but her sobs could be heard as she ran around the corner to catch her betrothed lord before his escape from Iceberg had been made. Ultear walked over to Gray, who was now even colder in the face with the departure of his two closest friends and natural sister.

"I can wait here by your side, or wait at Grey Harbor with my mother's old house." She confirmed with nurturing concern. "The choice is yours, brother."

Gray wanted to smile. He really did appreciate Ultear's arrival into his family the moment his father married Ur. The Milkovitch women were great to him and Silver, and her help at raising Meldy into a beautiful young lady was more than Lord Silver and his kin could have asked for.

It pained him to make a command that might see Ultear on a dangerous path.

"We may need more allies." Gray knew Ultear was courting with men from the south, and he also knew the family of her future household would follow suit with a possible rebellion. "I don't like the guy...but I'm thinking about that fiancé of yours. Can you travel to Louen for us? The triplets may follow us if they have a good motive. If you can trust them, then so can I."

 **-Jellal-**

Jellal Fernandes was alone with a book, a pipe, and a heart-red wine from the far fields of the Heartlands. His lavished balcony looked over a sprawling desert coastline that matched tinted green waters of the Pale Sea. Desierto was southeast of Isvan geographically, but north and east of practically every other nation in Ishgar. Its sandy hills rolled into tundra far north out of reach from the charted border, and the Golden Peaks separated the nation of the desert from the vast paradise of the Heartlands. The castle city of Louen sat at the end of a body of water known as the Bay of Stars. The northeastern landscape of Desierto provided a stargazer with their best view in the entirety of the Jeweled Kingdoms. The Golden Peaks to the southwest towered so high above the rest of the continent, that they were often referred to as the gateway to heaven.

Desierto was also the land guarded by House Fernandes, the Star Lords. They were Wardens of the East for the Dragneels. This inhospitable landscape was good for no form of agriculture, and the rocks only held the gemstone sapphire. While small mining ventures kept the wealth of Desierto intact, it was the former collection of stargazers, knowledge seekers, and enlightened thinkers that gave this small oasis of Ishgar its fame. Some of the oldest libraries, colleges, and observatories dotted this rolling dune sea. The Star Lords often called themselves the smartest men in Ishgar, as their house words read "Our Stars Shine Bright." The duality of this boastful set of words left them rather hated by men of the south, but the north men of Joya and Isvan somehow found this to be a form of charm (most likely at the expense of the southern lords' reputations.)

Jellal, however, was a middle son of a set of triplets. He was the second born to the mighty Lord Sieghart. Sieghart the Strong they called him. The first known warrior-lord of Desierto's history. Most men who found themselves ruling over the desert honed their skills within the walls of a library, while Sieghart took his studying out in the fields and armory. He gave birth to three sons, who now rule in his name after a sound defeat and untimely execution during the Shattered Rebellion at the hands of House Heartfilia.

The current lord of Desierto was Siegrain Fernandes. He was "Seigrain the Smug" to the other Jeweled Lords. Although young and handsome as every Fernandes man was, this confident liege was nearly everything his father was not. Brash, witty, and a bit improper. Both were excellent fighters, but Siegrain was a bit more comfortable with the consequences of his favorite trade. Death did not scare him, especially seeing the death of his enemies.

He and Jellal were identical. Their only differences were their attitude, and a distinctive red marking that surrounded Jellal's right eye. As a second son, the young Lord tried enjoying a leisure life of studying historias and travelling the continent. He was once betrothed to a fair lady from the country of Joya, but she mysteriously disappeared around one year ago.

The third was the strangest of the Fernandes triplets. A vagabond known as Mystogan to the rest of Ishgar, the Mist Lord was never home. Jellal enjoyed his travels like any other affluent ruler, but Mystogan quite physically lived on the road. It left his middle brother that much more perplexed, especially when comparing his reclusive, inverted lifestyle to the extrovert Siegrain.

Jellal let the recent drink of his wine linger on his tongue as he watched a strong breeze roll over the shores of Louen. The natural deserts of this nation were sparse with vegetation, but the noble Gardens of the East brought life from all over Ishgar to their sun kissed shores. He always enjoyed his view of the greenery and the sea from his balcony, and on some days, he spent time reading and writing in the dense greenhouse, assuming the weather was fit.

"Are you hoarding all the good red wine, brother?" Said a sharp voice from the doorway of the balcony.

Jellal felt his brow curl down, and the hairs on his head stand up when the feet of Siegrain stopped at his side table. His slightly older brother took the bottle from the tabletop, and poured what was left into a thin chalice. He walked over to the edge of the balcony and leaned over its side. "Ah, a Heart Red? I'm surprised the golden bastards still ship us anything. This one's aged well!"

Jellal raised an eyebrow in agreement, but turned his head. "I hear Ultear is on her way."

"She is." Siegrain wafted the chalice of red wine under his nose and leaned back on the railing. "Hopefully that frozen father of hers has sent her with his blessing. I'd like my lady before the winter months begin."

"Be patient with the northerners. They are a patient lot, after all." Jellal kept trying to read his book, while Siegrain distracted himself with thoughts of his future wife to be.

"And what are your thoughts, brother? Have you seen her in person? She resembles the other north men in no such a way." Siegrain raised a hand, as if he were reaching out to grasp the hands of an angel. "Hair like silk, and the figure of a goddess. Not rough or beaten like the rest of them. A real diamond, forged even in the roughest of winter winds."

Diamonds were the jewel of Iceberg, while sapphires were the jewel of Desierto.

Jellal agreed, as much as he could with broken memories of Ultear's physique. "Yes, quite the beauty. Intelligent too, the way I hear."

"Precisely!" Siegrain spilled a bit of Jellal's wine from his own glass in excitement. "Fit for a Fernandes! Breeding the wise with the wiser." He looked down at the remaining crimson pool of wine floating around in his glass. "And any news on your former bride to be? From what I hear, she passed away on a trip to Zentopia."

"Well, she's not at home, and she's no longer on our continent." Jellal sighed while turning a page in his book. "A wedding without a bride would just become a sad affair."

"And a dull one at that." Siegrain raised an eyebrow. "The mother is still a widow, though. The Lady of Rosemary. Could you imagine the thought of wedding Lady Irene in her place? You'd be the Lord of Rosemary now, no waiting needed."

Jellal could not imagine marrying anyone with the last name Dragneel, even if Irene Belserion held a new surname to replace it. The Dragneel family was known for fire and fury, death and despair. The line of House Dragneel always separated its rulers into two categories, black and red. The Black Kings were more regal, more learned, but more reckless with the elements of mysticism and sorcery. The Red Kings were true warriors of fire. Men born from the dragons themselves. Passionate, but angry. Both colors were capable of showing promise as kings, but both had sides of madness as well.

The two dragons that conquered Ishgar were Acnologia the Black and Igneel the Red. The first of both names, they were brothers hailing from the far-off freehold of Dragnof in the west. A line of dragon lords who ruled the continent like emperors eventually broke ties with one another, and the Dragneel Brothers were two that emerged both victorious, and alive after the smoldering skies of conflict cleared to blue. Acnologia and Igneel used dragons that shared their own names to conquer the fairies and the first kingdoms in Ishgar, and melted the scattered jewels of Ishgar into one single stone. Using the might of the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse, Acnologia I was crowned the first ruler of the Jeweled Kingdoms.

Until his brother, Igneel I took his twin's life and crown altogether. He also managed to bring the remaining country of Isvan into the fold, and united the entire living continent of Ishgar under one shining, rainbow banner. Eventually, Igneel's decedents took the throne, year after year, and a line of black and red kings followed suit one after the other. The pattern usually altered, when one black king left, a red would take the place. With the prophecy holding true, the absence of the young King Zeref II left the throne open to a red Dragneel. Irene and Mika were two from that cloth of the family, but the oddly placed green dragon of Toma E. Fiore claimed it in the end, and took the throne as the first flower, dragon-less at last.

Jellal enjoyed getting lost in history in the middle of conversations, especially when his identical brother started souring the mood with a discussion crafted to test his nerve. Still, Jellal tried his best to ignore the bashful Lord of Louen, and over the years, he had gotten quite good at it too.

 **-Lucy-**

The Golden Mane finally released its anchor at the port city of Hargeon in southern Fiore. Hargeon was the most successful of Fiore's ports and also one of its most beautiful old towns. The town was more prosperous and renowned in fishing than any other port on the inner Bay of Fairies, and it alone brought in a vast wealth for the people of the Flowery Kingdom.

Lucy Heartfilia trotted off the harbor with an arm linked to her brother, Loke. The twins of Lord Heartfilia grinned with a smug arrogance as their golden appearance warmed the welcoming party at the edge of Hargeon's walls. Together they matched his tunic with her gown, representing the brilliant deep red of their house banner, with embroidery trimmed in golden flakes.

A row of silver knights lined with green leather tunics underneath met them on the pier. Lucy was the first to speak, with blushing cheeks to match her bright red dress. "The Garden Knights! It's so amazing to finally see you in person!"

The blonde noble knew her way round the kingdom, even if she seldom traveled its streets. She also knew its people, lords, and knights. The fabled Green Garden Knights of Fiore were an old guild of guards founded by the first Lord of Flowers during the Age of Fire. Now serving just below the Rainbow Guard, the royal guard of Ishgar's King, they greeted any noble ship that entered the ports of Fiore on schedule.

"My Lady." Said a fair knight, removing his shining silver helm to reveal a head of golden locks, too similar to her brother. "It's good of you to share such enthusiasm with us! You leave us all humbled with smiles."

Lucy raised a hand, knowing quite well the young knight would accept for a greeting gesture. "You must be the Blue Rose—Ser Hibiki Lates."

Ser Hibiki smiled brightly back, like his colored title suggested. "You are correct. I'm the captain of these men." He turned to shake the hand of Lucy's unimpressed escort. "And you are the heir to Hearthome, it's good to have the future Lord Heartfilia with us to mourn the death of our King."

Loke raised his brow, and looked about to notice the impressive scale of Port Hargeon. "I guess. Our Lord Father could not make it out. He has business back home."

"The Golden Lord is always busy, or so I hear." Hibiki turned to walk with his guests up the pier, and let his fellow guard flank the Heartfilia bannermen to the back. "Welcome to Fiore, nonetheless. We wish you warmth while here in Hargeon for the evening, and hope to keep you before you make your final trip to Crocus."

Lucy kept ahold of her bright smile, while still holding the arm of her beloved brother. "I hear Fiore is prettiest during the height of summer. The flowers must be at their peak size!"

Hibiki kindly corrected the curious lady. "Only those who visit as guests would praise our summers. A springtime in Fiore is matched by no other sight in this world. No sight greater than our Queen's garden outside of Crocus."

"I hope she has her health." Loke added in. "Has she been seen often?"

Hibiki sighed. "Our Queen is a cheery one. She'll find good in anything, even in the death of the King. You would have no way of knowing that she is the future Queen of the Jeweled Kingdoms, though. No dragon's blood flows in her veins. Gentle as a flower, with beauty to match."

"Even King Toma was from a lesser side of the Dragneel family tree." Lucy point out, half boasting. "Zirconis was the Green Dragon, after all."

"You as sharp as you are pretty, Lady Lucy." Hibiki now had her other arm, which left the girl even brighter than before. She had no wish to spoil Loke's mood, so she decided to walk with the two of them together.

Lucy spoke next, but took in a deep breath from the city beforehand. "Loke, I'd like an emerald necklace. A token of Fiore before we leave for Era!"

"Of course." Loke stayed amused by her attention. "We can find one forged in gold."

Hibiki butted in on their discussion. "We'll get you one smithed with the finest Heartland gold. A fitting union of our two great kingdoms. The largest we can find!"

"Not the largest." Lucy restrained herself on wearing too much of her father's gold, even if it did accent her well. She also wanted the Blue Rose to think she was growing bored of his company. "I can't appreciate anything too gaudy."

Loke cracked a wit-filled smile from his sister's remark as two ornate doors painted in a powder blue stain swung open, revealing the large castle of Olympia. The periwinkle bricks were topped with deep purple shingling, and frames of golden windows made this jewel of a palace shine from the reflecting sun of Hargeon's bay.

The liege lord of this noble house, however, was far from a gem. The Orange Imp was his name behind his shoulder, but he was the Lord of Hargeon, and bannerman to House Fiore.

"My Lady, it's good to receive you on such a golden day." Lord Ichiya Vandalay bowed for his radiant guest, and seemed to ignore the lordling brother at her side. "It's only fitting that the sun comes out on the day of a Heartfilia's arrival."

His large, featured nose took to the air, and collected a rather sweet scent on her presence. "An excellent parfum as well. As delightful as your mother's."

"That's fine to know..." Lucy had already seen enough of the little Lord of Hargeon, but the proud Pegasus was never turned away easily.

He finally gave Loke a noticing glance. "Ser Loke. It's good to see the son of Lord Jude in my hall. Allow my men to fetch you and your radiant sister a meal of bread and wine."

"That sounds wonderful." Loke replied, admiring the features of his castle. "Olympia does the stories great justice, My Lord. Its size and splendor surely dwarfed my expectations."

Lucy nudged her twin brother in the ribcage for his jape. She held a convincing half smile, while he barely cracked with laughter as she tapped him with an elbow. Ichiya made no sign of noticing the remark, but the knight Ser Hibiki gave a darting expression toward the Golden Lordling for the remainder of their walk.

They arrived through the main door of Olympia, and settled in the upper hallway with two large guest rooms sitting opposite one another. Soon the Heartfilia children retired on their own, in separate rooms. Lucy let down her tied hair, and watched her straight yet bouncing locks fall over her shoulder in the mirror. A knock fell on her door before she could begin her combing, which reluctantly made her get up off her stool, and greet her guest.

"Loke, I'm not ready yet." She let out a soft whisper to try and scare him off.

He barged in anyway, noticing she made no attempt to stop him. "Your fine no matter how you look, Lucy. Can you believe this place? Not at all what I expected from the Imp of Hargeon!"

"Could you bite your tongue while we're still in his hall!?" Lucy had her own moral compass, but she only wished that the cruel Loke would save his remarks for after they left in the morning. "They've fed us, and given us rooms. The least you could do is show him your hospitality."

"I did show him my hospitality." Loke picked up a rose from a vase by her vanity desk. "I kept my stomach tied down while he waddled past us in that ridiculous cloak of perfume. The man smells like he was dipped in whatever fish oil they sell back at his sea port."

"He does have quite the odor." Lucy took her seat next to her standing brother, and continued brushing her hair through the mirror. "He did send me flowers, though."

"I figured that much." His wrinkled nose gave a hint that Ichiya himself handled the bouquet as he dropped the flower back into its vase. "Either him, or that ridiculous Blue Knight."

"Ser Hibiki is quite the champion in Fiore's tournament circuit." Lucy liked hearing her twin brother all up in flames. "They say he's talking the Queen into hosting one on her arrival in Era. Her twentieth birthday. It'd be good to show him some competition from our side of the bay!"

Loke held the sword at his belt, and put a hand under his chin as he studied his sister's glow in the mirror. "All these flowers need plucked by the root..." Loke jested some more. "I certainly wouldn't entertain the knight if I decided to enter."

Lucy grinned, but felt his hands grabbing the hanging strands of hair dangling behind her back. Loke smiled back at her through the glass. "And you'll be sure to pick a better suiter should one come your way in the capital...You'd still be better off to let me pick the man for you."

Lucy put down the comb, and stood to meet her brother eye to eye. She framed his cheeks with soft delicate hands, and smiled. "Loke, we both know what would happen if I let _you_ pick the boy for my future..."

Loke took her hands, and leaned in closer. "Then why should we wait?" He chased her with his lips while she leaned backwards. "It'd be no different than how we are back home. Plus, we're far away from father's eyes. I'll take the Rainbow Banner as a King's Guard, and you can work as the Queen's Left Hand."

"I told you!" Lucy whispered half playfully. She ignored his well-thought-out plans for the future, and tried returning him to the now. "I'm not ready yet! I just got settled into my room."

She clasped his hands together, and gave him a peck on the cheek in return. "I'll see you at dinner, brother. Try to be proper...for me."

Loke took the kiss to his cheek, and bit his lip in frustration. "I'll do my best."

* * *

The Heartfilia twins joined their host Pegasus at the dinner table when the sun started to hit its lowest point in the sky, lighting the night with a pink hue. A heavy swordfish laid at the feast's center, sprinkled with lemon oil and surrounded by plates of greens, and browned bread. Dishes of dark meats and chopped onions and peppers were spread about the table, sitting next to bountiful bowls of salad mixings. Sprouts soaked in a soy sauce and salted for good measure combed the air sweetly as the guests took their own direction toward the glorious bounty before them.

Lucy ate lightly as she dangled a slice of the fish off her fork. She savored the browned lemon spices that saturated the bite of white fillet, and washed it down with a local golden wine from the central hills of Fiore.

"This is a fine Magnolia Gold!" Loke spoke for his sister, while also raising his glass. "It pairs well with the meal."

"It's aged a week, but we drink our whites quickly, here. Unlike the reds of the Heartlands." Ichiya spoke back. "I'll be sure to let your gift sit well before opening it."

"Perhaps you can open it for my father if he ever decides to leave his rock and come take a visit!" Loke teased his liege father, which allowed the rest of the table to laugh, and Lucy to roll her eyes.

The blonde beauty spoke brightly soon after. "Your town of Magnolia is home to Kardia Catherdal, is it not? I hear it's the largest church in Ishgar. it's certainly worth the visit alone."

"It's even larger that the cathedral in Era." Ichiya noted. "Kardia was hand crafted by cardinals straight from Zentopia. Fiore has always shared a comfortable shoreline with the Zenopians, as we often seek advisors from the church."

"That's interesting to say." Lucy put her fork down. "Will the Royal Council ask for a new advisor to help the Queen now that the King has passed?"

Ichiya shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure. One would only be able to think. The Twelve Spirits are a hard bunch to read."

"No doubt, but perhaps if they do, you'd be able to provide our Queen with proper counsel of you own, my Lady." Hibiki kindly, yet boldly remarked, knowing that his lawful wife, Karen of House Lilica was seated by his side.

Lucy was starting to feel worn out from Hargeon, much like her brother, now that this one had shown her face. Lady Karen's first words followed her husband. "Queen Hisui would never be so quick to take an outsider into her council. My Lady Lucy, though you are very pretty, it's best to earn some age before trying to seek a place of governing at court."

Hibiki disregarded her remark. "Lady Heartfilia is just as learned as any other body on that council. I'm sure the crown could use the support of Jude as well."

"That would be our father's decision to take, not the crown's." Loke was quick to make sure they knew their place, knowing the true power that his father controlled. Lord Jude Heartfilia once served King Igneel III as his Right Hand; the top male advisor to the King's court. But in the waning health of the dying dragon, King Igneel relinquished control of the throne to his eldest son at an early age. The smarter King Zeref was quick to dismiss Jude Heartfilia from his service, knowing full well that the hand of the Golden Lord had sunken a little too deep into his father's dying arm.

Loke was fine by it, at this age, though. Jude's ultimate goal in that position was to make his daughter Lucy a Queen to King Zeref. Or a Lord's wife to the younger son, Natsu. He failed to remember which. Either way, his departure from court kept her at his side. That was as much as Lucy knew about her father's service to the Dragneel Crown.

"That sounds like a Heartfilia." Said the small statured Ser Eve of the Green Guard. The three commanders of the Fiore Knight group were named The Trimans, and Eve was the youngest, but far from the weakest.

They shared an ability equal to one another, actually. Hibiki the Blue Rose, Eve the Orchid, and Ren the Lotus were all exceptional fighters and gamesmen. Trained in sword, shield, bow and lance, they were excellent in their field.

Ren spoke next. "It'd be good to see you on the tourney field, Ser Loke, if the Queen insists on having it. It'd be the largest sporting event the capital has ever seen."

"Even larger than the tournament held by King Zeref on his coronation?" Lucy showed off her knowledge of the Dragneel family line once more. "That's very ambitious of here!"

"Our Queen doesn't think on ambition," Ren's lawful wife, Lady Sherry spoke with a gulp of wine to follow. "She only enjoys the smiling faces of her people, and if the event has to be large enough to quench her thirst for pleasure, the so be it."

"A loyal bunch." Loke insisted while leaning back in his seat. "The Queen of Flowers has certainly earned enough of a reputation here in Fiore."

Eve raised a glass. "And it will continue to grow! To the health of Queen Hisui, and House Fiore!"

All glasses were raised in the air, with the Heartfilia pair awkwardly falling behind. A toast was made, and the meal carried on to a splendid extent. An hour passed by, and guests passed out of the hall and to their chambers after the Lord Pegasus made his ending remarks.

Lucy had managed to slip out of the hall on her own, carefully controlling the placement of each of her delicate feet on the grand marble staircase of the Olympian hall. The golden wine from the meal had found its way to her core far quicker than she would have liked, and thus she kept a hand steady yet elegantly linked to the railing. Loke lingered in the back of the dinner hall to coerce several ladies of the court to grant him audience with their liege lady in Crocus, when the time came that is. She wondered to herself if he even noticed her departure.

It did not matter, though. Loke was his own man. She often struggled with trying to keep him close, and usually pushed him away for the safety of her heart. He was always there for her, for better or worse, back in Hearthome. The Dragneel custom of inter-family courtship did not pick up in Ishgar even after the royal dragons brought it over with their fire and fury. While Jude Heartfilia did manage to marry a distant cousin on his mother's side, Lucy would find no moral comfort in taking Loke into her bed.

But she did find some form of mental comfort in it, and certainly some form of passion as well. A great fear of her life was having some unfamiliar lord rule over her like her father did, yet the one man in the world who behaved the most like the Golden Hearted Jude was the one she used as a shield. She enjoyed playing coy with Loke for the sake of their bloodline, but deep down, she did feel comfort in his arms.

If this dinner were back in Hearthome castle, things would have ended differently. She always relied on his comfort when returning to her chambers at the end of a long day.

That comfort grew especially greater when other men circled her presence. Ser Hibiki, the married knight that he was, was quite the persistent man when trekking up the stairs after her. "Lady Lucy! Allow me to see you back to your chambers!"

 _"The nerve."_ She thought, realizing her inebriation gave him an opening to come to her aid. _"After Karen's glare the entire night..."_ Lucy kept a red flare on her cheeks, and gave him a warm smile as he approached her from behind. "Ser Hibiki. That's awfully kind of you."

"It's my liege Lord's home, My Lady. The least I can do." He took her by the arm, and waltzed her up the grand staircase while the party behind them raged on. "I hope the sight of Olympia has not intimidated you too much. The splendor of the Crocus Gardens will leave you breathless on the ground if so."

 _"Has he already forgotten my House name?"_ Lucy told herself with kind arrogance. The size of Hearthome Castle swallowed Olympia by the keep alone. She stayed friendly for the sake of her new acquaintance's social well-being. "It's a wonderful home! I will say that I do hear a lot about Crocus, however. My excitement grows even more by the day!"

Hibiki grinned as he slowed them both down to a stroll. "Then allow me to see your face upon arrival, and let me escort you and your brother safely along the flowered road? Fiore is far from dangerous, but having a local expert here to point out our land's marvelous features surely would make a woman with your wit easily entertained."

 _"Easily entertained? Does he think I'm some sort of house pet?"_ Lucy rolled her eyes away from his view, and kept her nose at a medium height despite her wanting drive to raise it higher.

Hibiki drew her in closer, and slowed them to a standstill. "I hear your brother is even chasing our fair Queen. I imagine he'll want to make haste for the Flower Capital. You and I would benefit from a slower tour of the road if we left on our..."

"My room!" Lucy brightly interjected, tearing herself from the encroaching knight to her side. His swooping hair and dazzling smile would not be enough to encage her for a trip alone north, and she used that final remark to gather enough confidence to call her evening to a close. "Thank you very much for the walk, Hibiki. I'll find you in the morning!"

The Blue knight looked to fade a few shades paler than he was before. He gasped a small bit, and turned his head to the side. "O-oh, well I will see you then, My Lady. Sleep well."

Lucy nodded, and quickly shut her door. Her back slouched against the think wooden slab between her and the hall, and a sigh of relief left her lungs as she collected the air in her own room with a comforting composure.

Yet, seconds of relief soon slowed down in her mind. Her breath halted, and her ears focused on the returning pitter-patter of footsteps outside, probably of even more drunken guests returning to their rooms as well. Lucy let the Fiore's finest gold take her mind some more, and quickly opened the door after a small knock fell upon its surface while she stood in the middle of collecting her thoughts.

"Sorry, I was caught up in a discussion with Lord Ichiya on fishing. The Imp has too many euphemisms for that pastime, even for a ma..."

Lucy ignored her brother's annoyed remarks, and pulled him in for a passionate kiss, not caring that his body stuck halfway out the frame of the door. The Golden Lion of House Heartfilia reared back, but stayed connected to the embrace of his beloved as his arms quickly clasped her warm, flushing cheeks. He pushed their bodies into her room quickly.

Lucy broke the embrace, and pulled the door shut behind him. "The next time you leave me alone with one of those idiots, I'll marry them on the spot." They moved to share her bed soon after, ignoring their place, and the peering eyes of a person that spotted the door shutting behind them.

 **-Gildarts-**

The white bricks of Tigre glistened under the warm sunset across the Caracola Sea, while sea foam green water bashed the lower face of the calcium-lined cliffs. Magnificent spires of white topped with deep blue shingles stuck out over the city. The ramparts of the city wall looked old enough to be from the Age of Fire, of the old Dragneel Kings, but their gleaming brilliance gave a hint that restoration efforts have taken place over the many years of Orland rule. The Great Tigers took pride in their strong architecture, but the magnificent port was their true source of power and wealth.

A great limestone statue of a saber tooth tiger stood over the rocky bay to greet incoming ships with a noble roar of fire. Though, while the stone goliath could not actually roar, its sturdy maw was lined with a pit of flames that acted as the city's lighthouse beacon. Gildarts Clive silently admired the wondrous spectacle as his ship swayed and rolled into its slot by the Tigre docks. He always had his smile equipped when traveling south, even though he had hated every voyage taken beyond Margaret Town. The Ice Lord's bannerman stood at the bow while his crew secured their mooring lines, all while he kept his hand firmly planted on the pommel of his family's ancestral blade. Its name was Empyrean. In the commoner's tongue, it was a very strong sword, but to historians of Ishgar and experts on House Dragneels, this sword was unique—it was Etherious. The very steel was forged by the fire of dragons and the magic of fairies, and virtually no man alive could work this metal through a smithy. Empyrean had been with the Clive family since the Age of Fire, and was destined to travel to his heir's hand after his death.

Currently, Gildarts had no true heir. His only child, his daughter Cana, was not fit to take his family's seat of Alberona just off the cost of the White Lake in eastern Isvan. He needed her to produce an heir of her own. Even in the name of another family, he would be happy to pass his legacy down to a grandson. He had no distrust of his own daughter, and he surely believed in her own prowess as a fighter. The noble Gildarts would even spend frequent nights with his dearest Cana in the training quarters, working her with sword and bow. But the fear that he knew from battles in his past, and knowing the life of a fighter, he did not want to push that future on to his one and only daughter.

Of course, he would never say that to her face. Just the notion of it would anger her enough to renounce all claim to her father's seat and move north to live in the wilderness of Worthwood. Instead, he blamed the very real traditions and customs of Ishgar, and said it was her family duty as lady of his house to mother a future son, and raise a boy in her partnered lord's name.

It was battles, like the one he fought at Tigre, that scared him the most. He could not picture Cana standing in his own shoes just years ago when he and his house laid siege to the Tiger Lord's sea ports in the wake of the Dragneel's retreat.

The Dragon King Festival, as the favorers of history would call it, was often referred to as the "War of the Shattered Gemstone", or the "Shattered Rebellion" to draconic loyalists. Zeref II Dragneel was responsible for the death of the last living fairy of Tenrou. He outraged his court, and the Jeweled Kingdoms enough to go into exile across the Caracola Sea. The people of Ishgar felt it was time for a new Dragneel to take his place, but the Black Dragon Zeref took his younger brother, Natsu II Dragneel , with him in his escape as a hostage. Several family members of the Dragneel Family Tree stood to claim their cousin's throne in the vacuum created after his departure. Lady Irene Dragneel, thereafter known as Lady Belserion, was the decedent of Zonia Dragneel, and currently the Lady of Rosemary in the Kingdom of Joya. She used her cousin's absence to fuel her own entry into Era.

In addition, the betrothed of his own liege, the late Lady Mika Fullbuster, was a Dragneel prior to marriage, and was raised by her father Mercuphobia I, until he died in a duel against his twin brother, Ignia II. Lord Silver Fullbuster raised an army in her name, but following her death during the rebellion, gave his support to House Belserion for geographic convenience. Silver figured a Belserion victory would provide a nice buffer between Era and his own Isvan long enough to secure his secession from the Jeweled Kingdoms.

Eventually, the affluent Lord of Crocus, Toma Fiore took the throne, on his own claim given to him by ancestry derived from the Jade Dragon, Zirconis Dragneel. The small piece of the Dragon King Festival that Gildarts Clive knew was right here in these parts, at the height of Cat's Cliff, and floating outside the watery gates of Tigre. He had waited for Lord Silver's men to storm the gates, then while his own garrison waited along the cliff tops, they chased the remaining Orland forces to the Sabertooth Mountains. The Tiger's Winter ended with Lord Jiemma losing his limb, and a stalemate at the port of Margaret Town.

Today, he and his liege Lord had other business, in Crocus, Fiore. The former King that Silver fought against for the throne was passed, and now he moved south for a time of mourning. Gildarts turned at his quartermaster's mark, and walked off his ship to the white docks of House Orland.

Ornate blue gates stood at the center of a white outer wall that separated the bustling harbor town from the inner structure of Tigre Keep. They drew open as Gildarts met with Silver and his men, and the host from Isvan marched slowly through the drawn gates of the tiger's lair as a liaison greeted them by the front.

"Lord Silver. It's quite the honor to see you stopping at Tigre on your way to Fiore." Lady Minerva of House Orland delivered her relaxed smile, and raised her hand upward to match the Ice Lord's palm.

Silver delicately took her hand, and kissed its top as he looked the young beauty in the eye. "Lady Minerva. It's quite a delight to be received by the fair Daughter of House Orland." He turned to see Gildarts as his right. "Seems the Great Tiger wishes to stay inside upon my arrival."

Minerva drew herself back slowly, and turned for the door of her hall. "Yes, well my father is not a man of the people outside our borders, as I'm sure you can attest to. He's holding a conference with a bannerman. He hasn't even made his mind up on visiting the funeral in Crocus. If I'm not mistaken, that's where your host is planning to visit, right?"

"Correct." Silver removed a glove as he passed underneath the towering doors of Tigre. "He is welcome to travel with us if his health is fair. We plan to sail midday tomorrow, after a gracious feast tonight, of course."

"Obviously." Minerva boasted. "Why, I planned the meal, myself. I can imagine you dined on a wild tiger while stopping along our coast. I hope you don't expect a second helping here."

"You know us northerners too well." Silver smirked. "I'm sure whatever you have prepared for us will suit our men just fine. I might not look impressed when I eat it, but I rarely do."

"Well, your honesty is appreciated." Minerva led them up a large set of stairs, lined with deep blue rugs trimmed with gold. "Is your house well? I hear your son is almost as large as you are."

"Not in the shoulders, but he is at my height now." Replied the Ice Lord. Gildarts could see Silver thinking on his son, Gray. The dark-haired Fullbuster continued. "He's free to wed, if you're in the market."

"Ha!" Minerva laughed playfully. "You flatter me, Lord Silver. I also hear your son is a handsome man. I'm sure he has a collection of northern eyes pried on him at all times."

"He does." Gildarts interjected. "He just doesn't know what to do with them."

The Lady Tiger turned to see her two guests. "Well, for the sake of your noble House, I hope he chooses wisely." She faced forward yet again. "House Fullbuster. You're one of the oldest names in Isghar. The only house to successfully avoid Dragneel invasion before the Dragon's Dawn."

"True." Silver was not fond of history lessons. "But I suppose that ceased after my fist marriage to one of those dragon's offspring."

Minerva gave him a short bow as she spun around for a half second, only to turn around forward for the third time. "As Strong as Ice. Mighty words. We received a letter with your signature on it recently. It had no marking of your House Sigil or words on it, though. Rather odd."

Gildarts studied those words, then continued by studying his Lord's rather passive expressive.

Minerva carried on. "It arrived with one of our traders in Veronica, but the original carrier was actually Alegrian. He came with a peculiar package."

"Strange indeed." Silver looked around the great hall. "I never send peculiar packages this way."

"No." She admitted. "We found this one in Veronica. As you're aware, House Dreyar has made surveying efforts in the Frozen Wastes, which led our House to perform a similar venture. We sent men across the sea to Alakitasia, and oh my, were we lost in our own bewilderment."

Minerva halted, and snapped a finger. She stopped walking as the entourage came across a mighty door lined with black stained wood and golden trimmings. Ornate tiger faces and razor cat paws dotted the face of the portal which probably led to a dining room or the lord's throne. Minerva's gesture, though, drew a guest from a smaller room across the hallway. A frail girl with soft, tanned skin and bobbed white hair shuttered beside the Lady of Orland.

The poor guest could barely look up, and kept her eyes as far away from Silver as possible. Minerva put a caring arm around the damsel's shoulders. Gildarts held a confused expression, and faintly gripped the pommel on Empyrean. Silver held a loose hand flat on Absolute Zero, but remained causal in his reply.

"A girl with such an exotic physique. You're from Alakitasia, aren't you my dear?"

"Alegria, or Oración to be precise." Minerva dusted the poor girl's shoulders. "She was decorated in chains when we found her. Odd to find a Balam slave so far north of the bay. Especially when her captor had this in his hands." She held the note, addressed by Silver, in her other hand.

Silver's eyes widened, and a small grin took his face, all while Gildarts looked on with uncertainty. He now held his sword handle tightly but refused to draw its blade until the absolute moment of need. Minerva kept the hand with the note high in the air, and faintly knocked on the great hall's door. The large, trophy doorway opened up, revealing a host of Saber men dressed in silver and blue steal armor. Lord Jiemma was sitting at the end of a long, dark mahogany table. Gildarts was now prompted to draw his blade, and signaled to the Isvan bannermen who stood loyally behind him.

"Lord Silver Fullbuster." Minerva left the girl alone and stepped forward to look the Ice Lord right in his scarred eye. "In the name of the Jeweled Kingdoms, House Orland finds you guilty of slavery, and treason against the throne. You are hereby under arrest."

 **-Natsu-**

Natsu's daze finally ended as he woke up underneath the Eisen Stadium. The fighting had ended for the day, and the victors claimed their prizes in glorious celebration. The losers, however, were usually kicked back to the streets, or tossed into the harbor if dead.

This was different. Eisen's current master, the Duke Everlue, was short on hired hands for the fighting pit's busiest season. He managed to round up some former poachers from the Balam Bay, which was no good news for surviving fighters. The Alegrians of Balam Bay were _slavers._ The slave cities of Alakitasia were a powerful empire in their own right, and the individual rulers of Oración, Grimoire, and Tartaros were a trio of kings in these waters. Eisen was a free city, and hundreds of miles north from the Balam Bay, but business kept up on the coasts of the west.

The men gathered after the fights included Natsu, whose hands were shackled together, and a small threaded sack was placed over each hand to hide his restricted wrists.

"What the hell is this?!" Natsu shot out with rage. "WHO DID THIS TO ME!?"

"Surprise?" A familiar voice from down in the pits shook Natsu's core as he turned around to find the smug Kageyama smiling back at him with a key in one hand. He was standing on the other side of a cell.

"Koga, you dirty bastard. WHEN I GET OUTTA THESE CHAINS I'LL...!"

"IT'S _KAGE_ , YOU DOLT!" Kageyama was ready to ship Natsu to the farthest reaches of Alegria at this point, but tried to quell his anger to deliver a lasting word. "If bashing your head in will shut you up for the trip, I'll be glad to administer the pain!"

"Where am I? Natsu hissed. "Are you some kinda guard, or something?"

"You are an idiot." Kage strapped his scimitar back to his belt. "But not totally wrong. Duke Everlue hired my master and I from Oración. Seems the great Duke was in need of some poachers to clean up his overly crowded stadium problem."

"Slavers?" Natsu spoke with confusion. "In Eisen? This is a free city! You can't catch people for slavery here!"

"No duh. Your hands were bagged for a reason." Kageyama undid the bolt to his cell door. "I have one for your head too. Keeps onlookers from seeing anyone they know. No stranger is going to call out a line of captured men walking down from the stadium if they look like a bunch of criminals."

"You think I'm the idiot..." Natsu's brow was turning red as a large vein started to protrude from his forehead. "The moment I get out of these chains will be the last time you ever take a breath."

Kageyama stood in front of the captured Natsu and took a deep breath of sarcasm. He blew it back in Natsu's face, and tightly secured a knapsack over his spiky head of pink hair.

"KYGAH! YUGH FUGHCKG MGHSTGHR!" The dragon had woken up inside Natsu, but the shackles and heavy cloth over his head was doing a n excellent job at taming his wings."

"Ass." Kageyama smack the Dragneel with the back of his sword to the head, then led him up to the back entrance of the stadium. A large line of other captives that Natsu could not see were being led to the piers, where a ship set for Oración would soon leave harbor.

Natsu no longer knew what specific moment to be angry about. He beat Kageyama, fair and square back in the game. He survived the game, so why was he being led out with a line of failures.

It was the red haired champion. The _woman_. She knocked him out and took the cup for herself. He briefly remembered being drug out of the stadium by his arms, but never remembered anything past that point.

A woman. The former prince of Ishgar, and brother of the King was defeated, quite soundly, by a woman. The victor of the recent circuit game wore Ishgari armor, plated steel and wielded a winged longsword, and the markings of her breastplate matched that of the Zentopian faith, the same faith of the Twelve Zodiacs that many in the Jeweled Kingdoms followed.

Natsu was abashed by his own circumstance, and wished to drown his sorrows at a local watering hole on the long pier of Eisen. Though, no amount of red Heartlands wine from across the Caracola Sea could wash away his confusion and anger after a fight like that. He felt bitter with himself, but also taken back by the mystery surrounding his current situation. The dragon was used to claiming what was not already his. Zeref taught him historias of his mighty ancestors claiming what was theirs by right of conquest, but the Black Dragon King was a rather passive being himself. He preferred the arts, both the traditional and the arcane. Natsu was born as a red Dragneel. He held the true blood of the dragon, always hot and always ready to burst. His temper was rather calm when he was outside the pits, but if a man ever threatened the former prince on the wrong day, the dragon would usually awaken.

He could smell a gruel of biscuits and bacon browning from somewhere in town. His gold was gone from the fights, and what was left was probably in the swindling pockets of Kageyama, but the savory scent waving over the air left him pining for one last meal. He remembered the golden, flaky biscuits from back in Era. They were best eaten warm, and were even easier to devour when dripping with honey and butter.

His stomach was churning. He had not had a meal like that in seven years. Even the brown meals from taverns were out of his reach now. Natsu tried to tug on his hands that were shackled out in front of his body, but nothing budged. The guard next to him still felt like it be a good idea to swat at him. He slammed the end of his spear right toward Natsu's side, which made the former prince blurt out an unresponsive grunt. The cruel slaver went to hit him again, it seemed, but Natsu suddenly heard the rustling of plate armor over chain mail.

"What is the meaning of this?" Said the muffled voice of a hardy knight through a helm made of steel. "Where are you taking these men?"

"Mind your business, Ishgari." Natsu could hear Kageyama walking this way, and was trying to figure out where he would stop to deliver a nice butt with his head. Thankfully, the dimwit failed to find the slaver, as Kageyama was instead standing in front of what looked like the outline of a knight through Natsu's bagged head.

"I'm minding the law of this city, sir." The knight forcefully replied. "I may be away from my home, but I will keep the peace wherever I am. If these men are prisoners, then they should be heading for the Duke's Palace."

"How are you so sure that we didn't come from his palace?" Kageyama said with a smart expression.

The knight let the other men laugh, but stood firm. "You were in the fighting pits. The one with the scimitar. You fell to the last man I beat."

 _"FUCK YOU!"_ Natsu growled deep inside his mind, but kept his voice turned off to hear the rest of the conversation play out.

Kageyama was without words, then before he could react, the silver knight dawned in Zentopian crusader's armor grabbed the bag from Natsu's head, and drew it off.

"Perfect." Natsu heard the female voice better now, then turned to face the annoying knight from the fight before. The woman dressed in silver spoke again. "Just the man I needed to find."

The knight drew her sword, and slammed it down on the exposed chain between Natsu's hands. She tossed him a steel longsword, and slashed backwards to attack a following poacher. Natsu smiled with wild eyes, and hacked at the first man that ran his way. He drew blood on the first strike, then turned to guard the exposed back of his savior's flank.

The knight cut down several men along the train of slaves, tapping blades with Kageyama every step of the way. The western fighter tried hitting the Ishgari with his sharpened scimitar, but her powerful plate armor was too much for the outward curving blade. Kageyama was quick, though, and side stepped to grab a spear at his right. HE swung it upward, and forced the knight to parry with her sword. The spear fell back down to the ground, but the knight quickly felt a loud bang come across her head as the now slightly blunted scimitar rattled against her helm and sent her crashing to the ground.

No blood was spilled, but Kageyama was ready to change that as he stood over her in a victorious pose. The knight raised her straight sword high in the air to defend the blow, but a quick spear shot up through Kageyama's chest and out his heart. The knight let the blood spray her sword, and kept most of it from getting on her shiny, silver armor. She saw Natsu remove Kageyama's body from the spear, and throw down the spear in a huff of air. Natsu saw the knight take the key from Kageyama's belt, and watched her toss it to another man in chains. One by one each man liberated themselves, and as Nastu tried to collect his breath, the knight took his wrists, and undid what was left of the shackles.

Natsu adjusted his tunic, and swiveled his belt around his trousers as the sheath of his sword dangled lightly from his side. His spiky, pink hair was shooting in all different directions, so a quick comb-through with his hands set him off in the right direction. He collected his view of the Eisen pier rather sluggishly, then turned to find the shining warrior who helped set him free holding a bizarre, but shockingly familiar item.

"My dagger?!" It hit him harshly. The ornate ruby dagger from the land of jewels. He left it in him home before the fight, yet somehow the knight twirled it like a red baton in the glimmering light of the sun right there beside him. Natsu's slowly focused eyes caught the outline of his prized dagger. He leaned over to grasp at it with his open hand, but met nothing again as the figure stood far away.

"Where did you get this, Jeweler?" The dominant female voice echoed through the steel helm. He could see small wings pointing off the top of her visor. Natsu's skin trembled, but his heart remained fierce as his eyes tried locking onto his target.

"I think you know where it came from." His reply was full of snark. "Who the hell are you? And how did you get that? It was in my house!"

The voice was firm in response, choosing not to answer the second statement. "This dagger is from the Jeweled Kingdoms, but it by no means belongs in the cart of a petty jewelry merchant."

"What about _your_ armor?" Natsu found ground to stand on finally, and kept his head high to match her level. "You were wearingthat Ishgari plate armor in the fighting pits. I haven't seen a true knight fight in those pits in all my years here."

An uncomfortable pause took the air. The fighter was not pleased. "I'm no knight...I'm taking this dagger if you don't tell me who you are."

"Like hell you are!" Natsu argued back, holding the sword at his belt. "My brother gave me that dagger! It's all I have to remember him by!"

"Your...brother?" The figure looked down at the blade, but even with Natsu covering the sun using his hand, his dotted vision only saw doubles. He could not make out a face behind the visor of the helmet. She carried on.

"Your brother...when did he leave you?"

Natsu spat blood, and whipped his mouth. His lip was bleeding from the guard hitting him in the head on the way out of the stadium. "I dunno, like six years ago. Maybe it's been seven now..."

The would-be knight stood plainly, and silent as ever as the morning streets still bustled behind her. She clutched the dagger firmly for a short second, then loosened her grip, tossing the ruby object to Natsu.

"Only a fool would suspect someone of being a Knight of the Jeweled Kingdoms, then choose to stand against them in open combat. Unarmored, no less." The woman had amusement hanging on her voice. "A fool...or a _dragon_."

Natsu fumbled trying to avoid cutting himself on the edge, and remained looking at the warrior as she walked forward. The same armor she wore yesterday was fresh as ever. Silver lined steel, with a yellow cross up the middle and red broach marks decorating her breastplate. The winged sword was sheathed at her side, and her arms raised up to remove the rounded steel helm from her head.

A scarlet waterfall cascaded down her shoulders and over her back. A small whip of her neck let her hair loose as she straightened her face, and opened her eyes. Sharp and brown, they were the eyes of a warrior.

"In my years' time, I thought I had lost you for good. My name is Erza Scarlet. I have been looking for you and your brother for far too long."

"Erza... _Scarlet?_ " Neither name or surname rang a bell in his dense head. Natsu scratched it some more to try and make sense of all this before him. "Wait, are you from Ishgar?"

"I am." She proudly replied. "I left my home over a year ago on a quest to find the Dragneel brothers my family swore to protect. I even trained at the Isle of Zentopia to help my hand in the search."

"Huh, I've never heard of your family." He was not a smart man, but Natsu had enough sense of his world to know _Scarlet_ was not a noble name in Ishgar.

Erza ignored his claim, and continued to kneel at his feet. Her sword was now drawn, and the point was facing into the dirt. "Now that I have found you, I am ready to serve at your command. Will you have me?"

Her obedience was quick, and rather rushed. He admired her passion, even if she was a bit dense like he was. What knight, or warrior in this case, would blindly fall to the aid of a prince chased out of a kingdom by its people?

Natsu wanted to smile, or at least react with some sort of positive emotion, but his head and body were throbbing too hard. Dimwitted as ever, he missed his point, and walked around the kneeling servant's stance.

"Whatever. As long as you apologize for beating the tar out of me, I don't care what you do."

Erza let the boy wander behind her as he started off to perform his own morning routine in the small, bustling town. She felt the brow on her forehead twitch with irritation as her year's quest came to an unsatisfying conclusion.

"Seven years gone from Ishgar, and all I can find is his idiot brother. Figures."

* * *

 **Author's Note: Wow! I have been a busy bee IRL. I need to update a lot of my stories, bout for some reason my mood for FT/GoT has increased this past month...?**

 **Seriously though, I have enjoyed (despite the massive amount of hate over the internet) the finale season of Game of Thrones! It's not perfect, but it's going okay for me!**

 **Anyway, I hope this chapter was okay! A lot of exposition, which I tried modelling after George's _A Game of Thrones_ for how to do it in a universe like this! I am _reeeally_ trying to find a balance for the Fairy Tail personalities and how they would fit in this medieval universe. Please don't think I'm intentionally trying to write things OOC with goofy dialogue. I feel, based on watching the Fairy Tail dub for many many years, that most of the speech written so far would fit them. **

**The hardest to write for me is Lucy. She's my favorite character ever, and while I am trying to fit her into a role like Tyrion (my favorite GoT character) she'll also be pulling a bit from Sansa, Daeny, and as you can tell Cersei. I can't wait to write her in the capital! Additionally, you can have fun trying to figure which Game of Thrones characters I'm using to model each Fairy Tail Character as (except Natsu...that one is kind of...well, _very_ obvious!)**

 **Until then!**


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